Naruto: Dark Disciple
by Skyrimosity
Summary: Sitting in his room crying, a young Naruto is approached by a dark figure who identifies himself as Jashin. After years of Jashin's influence and continual poor treatment by the village, he decides to run away. Will Naruto forge his own destiny or be controlled by Jashin's power? And what does he have planned for Konoha? And the rest of the Ninja World? *Discontinued*
1. Prologue: Part One

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Prologue

A ten-year old boy lay huddled in the corner of a messy apartment, tears streaming down his face. It was nearly impossible to see the boy in the darkness, sobbing uncontrollably despite his best efforts to get past it. Sometimes, he simply could not get over all the pain. The questions of "Why me?" and "What did I do?" combined with "Why do they hate me" clouded his mind, the memories of the day's and other past events staying in his thoughts.

It was another typical October 9th, the day before his birthday. He hadn't wanted to go out into public at all, but knew he would have to go to the Academy since Iruka-sensei made it very clear that absences during the week of the Kyuubi Festival were simply not tolerated. The small child wished, more than for a family, more than to feel loved, that the Kyuubi Festival had not been on the day of his birth. That way, he could skip school and avoid his annual ritual.

It happened the same as it always did. He was walking home quickly but quietly, hoping that his usual loudness would contribute a bit of camouflage on a day where he wouldn't talk. Somebody noticed him, however; somebody always seemed to notice. They shouted at him, other people looked, they started screaming at him, and it just continued on and on. A constant barrage of berating after a day of being ignored by everyone at school.

Nobody would ever sell him anything for a week before his birthday. The shop owners were usually just as active in calling him a "monster" and a "murderer." He couldn't understand why the people tortured him, he just knew that it hurt to see the looks in their eyes. But there was no reason behind it, nothing he could change about himself to make them stop. He was trying his best to become a ninja and protect a village that only ever seemed to hurt him.

Naruto's teeth clenched tightly beneath his tears. This wasn't the first night where the floodgates had broken. Fear turned into hatred in red, teary eyes. And why shouldn't it? What wasn't there to hate? All the children his age avoided him if they were not outright insulting him, both Iruka and Mizuki punished him for slight offenses more than other kids, the adults treated him like trash for no reason, and even the shinobi he trained to be like took part in his abuse. He hated it; hated all of it. Hated all of them. Somehow, the thoughts of hating them relaxed his body. As he calmed down, he already knew he'd be over it within a few days just like the other times. The process would begin again. The tears stopped, and soon enough, the child fell asleep.

Naruto awoke in the dead of night with an ominous feeling. He quickly looked over at his digital clock which told him it was exactly midnight. Every hair on his body was standing up and breaths came in only through short, inadequate bursts. It felt like the air was burning his lungs. Looking around, Naruto was startled at what he saw. There, in his very room, despite the locked door being shut, stood a figure clad entirely in black wearing a hood. "Get… get out of my room..." he said, trying to shout yet sounding weaker than a mouse.

The figure turned, and Naruto felt his body freeze in horror. It was not like any person he had ever seen. His face was simply a skull, no skin or nose or lips… only a skull. His eyes were the color of blood, or rather, his eye sockets were the color of blood as he had nothing else in them. Underneath his neck, there was nothing but what appeared to be a pitch black cloud. He looked directly at Naruto, who found himself incapable of movement. "I shall forgive such sin only this once, child." Horrifyingly, the skull's mouth had not moved and his eyes seemed to shine.

Naruto looked into his eyes. Instantly, he found himself reliving every horrible moment of his life from an outside perspective. Watching as a four year old boy was kicked out of an orphanage. As a five year old child was berated for saying the lady in front of him bought the exact same item for less. Children ignoring him as he approached on the playground; other children taunting and bullying him every chance they got. Seeing himself get treated horribly around his birthday, occasionally even pleading that he had not done anything wrong. Seeing the looks of hatred even more clearly than he had been able to before and realizing that anyone else would also have noticed.

"What… who… are you?" It took every bit of conscious effort to speak to the figure at all.

"I am impressed, child. To speak to one such as I after what you have seen." Naruto could hear no tone indicating any emotion at all, however. It was a deep, flat tone, one that seemed to indicate the figure held no interest toward anything whatsoever.

"I am the nightmares in the minds of children, plaguing their minds so that I may enjoy their screams. I am the horror seen by all before their last breath, the very image of death itself. I am thirst, for it has been too long since I have been quenched by the blood of war. I am hunger, for the flesh offered in my name has been far too few. I am your Lord and Savior. I am Jashin."

Naruto couldn't speak, couldn't move. The power of the entity in front of him was overwhelming in every aspect of the word. Luckily, it seemed like he was not expected to say anything.

"I do not expect you to understand, child, but you have been blessed. You have been given a dark power beyond the understanding of mere mortals. I shall not tell you, for I am not one for explanation. I bare you one gift, however." The figure held out a hand, seemingly empty. Within moments, dark clouds began to swirl around it. Naruto saw a sword handle materialize from thin air, skulls emblazoning it in horrible decoration, as a blood red blade began to form. A sheath, decorated with images of death and a depiction of Jashin himself, appeared on it next.

"Behold the Fujo Buredo, child. The Unholy Blade which is but a glimpse of the power I hold. Do not disappoint me." The last sentence was clearly an order. The figure vanished.

Naruto jolted up out of his bed, sitting straight. He was confused; hadn't he just been sitting up? Then it hit him. It had all been a dream! Of course it was a dream! He held no dark power, hadn't received some horrific gift from an evil entity, wasn't special enough to have had such a thing happen to him! He looked over at his alarm clock, curious as to the time. For some reason, when he saw it was exactly midnight, his body tensed and goosebumps appeared on his arms. Hesitantly, he turned his head to look around.

There, sitting against his dresser, was the Fujo Buredo. Unmistakable in its horrifying detail, he slowly walked over to it. Gripping it, he was amazed at how unbelievably light the material was. Briefly, he remembered the dream, the vivid moment in which the sword appeared from thin air. Except, clearly it wasn't a dream, because the sword was in his hand.

Hesitantly, he unsheathed it, unsure how to feel as the blood red blade slowly withdrew from the sheathe. For a moment, he felt it: felt power rush through him, filling his body. In the next moment, he could see the deaths of the people that had tortured him throughout his life. This… this wasn't what he wanted, was it? Sure, he was not exactly fond of anyone in Konoha but killing them?

Moments later, however, everything changed. The blood red blade faded into normal steel, gaining weight in the process. The designs faded from the sheath and handle, showing no implication they had ever been there. The power left Naruto's body, leaving him more tired than before. For a brief moment, he wondered if it had all been real. Then he remembered the terror, the vivid images, the blood-eyed entity, the feelings he had felt. There was no doubt in his mind: Jashin was real.

"That's right: you're nothing but a monster! Everyone in this village hates you, even your own beloved Iruka-sensei! Now die" Mizuki shouted at a twelve-year old blonde headed child. Naruto couldn't think clearly: he was the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the nine-tailed demon fox? He was hated because of something the Fourth Hokage had done to him? The beatings he had suffered every year of his life at the hands of the village flashed through his mind. How could a Hokage have done this to him! Hokage-jiji was one of the good guys, right?

* * *

He hadn't noticed his former teacher throw a large shuriken at him, and he definitely didn't notice when Iruka-sensei jumped in front of it. In the next moment, however, Iruka was shielding him and absorbed the impact into his back. "Iruka… why?"

"You're not a monster, Naruto. We're the same, you and I. I was… an orphan too. I was a troublemaker. That's how I know who you are. You are Naruto Uzumaki… now run..." Naruto couldn't process what to do. He scrambled to his feet and saw Mizuki was about to say something when everything in the world seemed to suddenly stop. It was as if time itself had halted. The hairs on his neck began to rise and goosebumps spread across his arm as he felt overwhelming fear: a fear he had felt just once before.

From the nearby forest came the human form of Jashin. "Now, child, you know of the dark power dwelling inside of you. The Kyuubi no Kitsune. The village's blessing unto you."

Naruto, just as the last time, felt his voice failing in the presence of the entity. The sheer power emanating from the figure was horrifying, and the sense of dread pouring off of him was unmistakable. "… blessing?"

"Of course. The beast is a horrifying amalgamation of dark energies. Pure power. All yours."

A single question made its way to the front of Naruto's mind; a question that perhaps he should have already asked but hadn't been able to think of. "What… what do you want?"

"Such matters are to be discussed later. Your sensei was not like you, child. He was not treated differently for matters beyond his control; he knew his parents for years of his life. Do you want to know a secret? He hated you the moment he laid eyes on you. He knew your secret and despised you for it, blamed you for the loss of his parents."

"No… not Iruka! He wouldn't!" Naruto found his voice suddenly gaining strength in his desperation to defend one of the two people in his life who meant anything to him.

"He did. Look into my eyes, child." Naruto was, naturally, a bit hesitant to look into Jashin's eyes, given the horrifying life memories he encountered last time. To deny a rather harmless request from such a powerful figure, however, especially given the importance of the topic to him personally, seemed foolish. He gazed into the blood-red eye sockets.

" _Iruka," Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, began, "it is my understanding that perhaps you are not properly trying to teach all of your students. Would you care to explain?"_

" _Hokage-sama, I do not see it worth the time to waste effort teaching Naruto. He's not cut out to be a ninja; he's brash, arrogant, and loud-mouthed. Not to mention a prankster."_

"Ah but I seem to recall a child some ten years ago much like him. Brunette, alone in the world, pranking in a desperate attempt to be noticed. Considered hopeless. Does this seem familiar?"

" _Hokage-sama, with all due respect, surely you cannot be comparing me to that… that… to Naruto."_

" _Very well. I guess all I can say is give the boy a chance. After all, equality of education is very valued by the shinobi ranks and therefore I must assure it is provided."_

"… _Hai, Hokage-sama."_

Naruto couldn't believe it. Iruka-sensei had only begun to teach him due to being threatened with removal from the academy? What about… what about when Iruka had bought him ramen? Was that real? Or was it just an attempt to stay in his good graces? So the Hokage would see how he looked up to Iruka and the man's job would be secure?

Maybe it wasn't true? What if Jashin had simply created the scene? Surely a figure of such undeniable power would be capable of doing such a thing. But why? It seemed entirely trivial for a being such as the one before him. Why would Jashin lie? Chances are he wouldn't. Especially if he had no need of lying in the first place and the entire conversation had happened.

"And what about that miserable old Sandaime? The man you consider a grandfather? I will not lie: he has cared for you." Why would Jashin lie about Iruka but admit Hokage-jiji cared? Naruto actually felt his head droop as he came to the realization that Iruka was the same as everyone else. "Yet, child, the man's life is nearing its end. As we speak, dark forces align against Konoha to seek their wicked vengeance. Additionally, he has deceived his entire village, for you see, it was he who ordered the massacre of the Uchiha."

Naruto felt his jaw drop. Sasuke's family was killed by the man he called Grandfather? But… hadn't Itachi killed them? He was about ready to ask, feeling less afraid of the entity, but was silenced when the figure raised a hand.

"The Hokage's advisor who suggested the plan harvested the eyes of the dead Uchicha to do with as he wished. Itachi was a pawn. Do you see it child? Do you see the corruption in Konoha? It is present everywhere. Should it matter if they were to die? Death is surely better than the meager lives they are living. Yes… they all deserve to die."

"Why are you telling me this?" Naruto couldn't comprehend it. Why was he being visited by this figure? How many others had gone through the same thing? Could the entity be trusted? Despite his questioning, however, Naruto felt his hatred begin to burn through his body. His hatred of the village, of the many people within it, of the shinobi, of all those who had lied to him. He hated it all; wanted to end it all. But maybe killing was the wrong idea?

"If you do not properly understand the depths of the cesspool in which you have been raised, I cannot trust you will make a wise choice once the time arrives." The figure disappeared and, within the next moment, Mizuki's lips were moving again. Naruto didn't know what to do so ran, but eventually managed to focus his hatred toward Mizuki. He doubted the man would be able to move for at least three months afterwards.

* * *

"And the winner is Naruto Uzumaki!" screamed the proctor of the third round of the Chunin Exams. For a moment, the crowd was silent but then erupted into a chorus of booing. Accusations of "cheating" and that it was unfair to allow the "monster" to compete could be heard from a few individuals. Naruto scowled as he focused his attention to one Neji Hyuga lying on the ground, temporarily unable to move.

It had been a close battle, one in which Naruto had to use all of his most clever tricks and even a bit of Kyuubi's chakra to win. But he had won, and it made sense to him. After all, he had hated Neji Hyuga. Neji was just another example of a person who took his anger out on the wrong person for the wrong reason: namely, Hinata. And Naruto had never particularly disliked Hinata, though the fact that the girl seemed to avoid him often invoked a small bit of his inner anger.

"Do you know why you lost, Neji?" He asked, speaking down toward the boy. The Hyuga didn't answer. "You lost because you were so misguided. You don't hate the Main Family; you just want to be a part of them. You don't hate Hinata, you just think that you're supposed to. And you're a genius? Please."

Naruto gave Neji his friendliest smile, ignoring the booing of the crowd as he leaned down to help Neji stand as the Medics began to come out from the tunnel. Leaning in closely, his mouth by Neji's ear, he whispered softly. "No Neji… you don't know hatred. I know hatred, have felt it from others my entire life. And you know what? I'm beyond it. Hatred cannot even begin to define my feelings. But one day this village will know. I never give up, remember? That's my nindo."

He helped Neji to his feet, even as the teen was wide-eyed and nearly limp. As Neji looked at him, clearly questioning everything he had just said, Naruto found it very hard to resist and finally gave in to impulse. He laughed heartily and patted Neji on the back as the medic-nin finally reached the shocked Hyuga.

* * *

Naruto crawled toward Gaara, intent on finishing off the boy if need be. After an intense fight, Naruto managed to defeat the jinchuriki of the One-Tails. Sure, he wasn't exactly unharmed, but he definitely had used less of Kyuubi's power than Gaara used Ichibi's power.

"Do you know why you lost, Gaara?" He smiled at the look of horror on Gaara's face, the kid who had once seen himself as invincible now fearful for his life. "Your hate wasn't focused. You didn't have a goal. Me? I hated you for trying to destroy the village first, so I had to defeat you. I can't lose if I have to win. Funny, right? I'll hate anyone who tries to destroy this village." Naruto was interrupted from speaking anymore by the sudden appearance of reinforcements for both sides.

* * *

Naruto was getting ready to lie down for the night, near the end of his training trip with Jiraiya in the Land of Grass. Jiraiya had, as usual, practically passed out drunk on a log near the fire. He thought about the fact that he'd be back in Konoha in about a month and grew weary. What was waiting for him in Konoha? The Sandaime was killed by Orochimaru, he'd be forced to be around Sakura again, he'd have to deal with Kakashi… it hardly seemed worth it. Not for the first time, he wondered if he could simply run.

What exactly had he even accomplished on this silly trip? Jiraiya focused almost entirely on teaching him to harness the Kyuubi's chakra. In theory, the Kyuubi was a nearly limitless pool of chakra so Naruto understood why it'd be a good idea. However, progress had flatlined half a year ago and the man was still pushing on! He could persevere with the best of ninja; however, since this was a field in which Jiraiya had no experience in and seemed to rely on guesswork, he thought it should be taken as a sign that their methods simply were not working. Sighing, Naruto glanced downward toward the remnants of the campfire, recently supplied with fresh wood.

As he looked into the fire, envisioning a replica of Konoha within it and shuddering, he didn't even notice when the flames no longer rose but simply paused altogether. Or when the falling leaves stood mid-air. No, he was far too busy letting the fire consume a few buildings housing a few select people. It unnerved him to envision these things, yet at the same time it seemed to comfort him. He did, however, look up when he felt a sheer amount of fear and terror he'd only felt twice before in his life. And he saw a figure standing in the woods, blood red eyes staring at him.

"Listen well to me, Naruto." It was the first time Naruto could recall being addressed by his name from the powerful entity. It made him feel… important. Moreso than Jiraiya did whenever the man ran off to chase prostitutes. Naruto nodded, although clearly such a figure as Jashin would care little about his consent to listening.

"You are the son of the Fourth Hokage, the one known as Minato." Well that was unexpected. Naruto was shocked immediately by the statement. He had always wondered about his parents, torn between hoping they were alive and hoping they were dead. He couldn't even decide if he hated the Fourth whenever he learned of the Kyuubi since Jashin called the demon a blessing. If Jashin told the truth, and to Naruto's memory the man had never lied, well, what did it mean?

"His dying wish was to have his only son treated like a hero. And how did the village honor the request of its greatest hero? Well… I believe you know the answer." So, if he was putting all of this together correctly, his father cared about him, the village loved his father, but the village hated him, therefore meaning the village disrespected his father? Naruto could feel his blood boiling as he added yet another way the citizens and shinobi of Konoha had mistreated him. But what could he do about it all?

"Who are you, Naruto Uzumaki?" Naruto was, to say the least, surprised by the question. He was about to speak an answer when he suddenly realized it was hard to think of one. "To Tsunade, you are a replacement for a brother. To Jiraiya, you are his responsibility as godfather. To Kakashi, you are a reminder of his sensei. To Uchiha, you are a test. To Konoha, you are a menace. To the world, you are a jinchuriki. Leave."

Naruto didn't know what to think. He wanted to leave, wanted to get the horrid village of Konoha behind him. Wanted for the people who pretended to care like Jiraiya and Tsunade to be far away. But where would he go? What would he do?

"Near the border with the Land of Waterfalls, there is a small village. Find a missing-nin from Yugakure and show him your Fujo Buredo." The figure vanished once more.

Naruto sat still for a moment, the fire beginning to make crisp noises once more after time resumed. What should he do? There was nothing for him in Konoha, but what was there in the rest of the world? What would he be doing anyway? Just then, he felt a pulse on his back as the sword there no longer seemed to weigh him down. He reached over his shoulder and grabbed the handle of the Fujo Buredo, feeling its ornate decoration for the first time in years.

A rush of power flowed through his entire body, and, as if on instinct, his body turned to face the sleeping Jiraiya. It took Naruto a moment to regain the ability to think. A soft voice seemed to whisper in his head, yet it sounded almost impossibly clear. _Kill him. His blood is worthy._ Naruto was horrified for a moment. Was he ready to kill? Even if he was, he doubted that he'd be able to take down someone like Jiraiya anyway. No, if he knew anything about his foolish teacher, the man seemed harmless yet was still one of the deadliest ninja alive. As good as the power felt, Naruto let go of the blade.

Over the next few minutes, he made up his mind. All he had to do was remember the small child huddled in the corner of a room, crying. A life in Konoha was not a life worth living. He'd forge his own path, regardless of how much he'd have to fight to do it. Whatever experience lay ahead in meeting some missing-nin and following Jashin's suggestions, it would be better.

Packing up his things, Naruto set out to find the village Jashin-sama spoke of. After about twenty yards, he realized that he needed a way to cover up his tracks. He created nine shadow clones; five to head towards Iwagakure and four who would circle around and head towards Sunagakure. The Iwa group would carry one Naruto on their back to make heavier footprints, indicating that he was taken. That group would appear to be stealthy while making a few mistakes.

The Suna group would leave behind heavy tracks. After all, Jiraiya knew he was the son of Minato and it would make sense for Iwa to be after him if they somehow found out. The Suna team will be a fake distraction; Jiraiya will obviously know that the tracks are decoys but will assume it was done by Iwa to try to weaken the alliance between Konoha and Suna. With any luck, the plan would at least keep Jiraiya away from figuring out the truth for a week or two.

Watching the groups set off as planned, Naruto proceeded to move as stealthily as possible toward the Land of Waterfalls.


	2. Prologue: Part Two

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Prologue – Part 2

As dawn approached, Naruto finally set his eyes upon the small village of Shimamaki. Giving the village a good look, it didn't seem to be anything more than a small logging village with a few hundred citizens. It made sense for the town to be small; after all, borders between nations were not safe places at all in the shinobi world. Still, apparently Kusa and Taki did not fight enough to prevent the settlement from existing. But why would a missing-nin from Yugakure be in a place like that?

Walking down the main road into the city, his nerves began to get the better of him for the first time since he abandoned Jiraiya. It wouldn't be long until the man was awoken by the sunlight and discovered his disappearance. Would the Toad Sage fall for his deception and be convinced he was taken? Knowing Jiraiya, the man would chase down any leads personally first before asking his spy network for information. Still, it could always be possible that he hadn't managed to trick the older ninja.

Ignoring that train of thought altogether, Naruto tried to look for anyone that might be a missing-nin amongst the few people out of their homes so early. It would be wishful thinking to assume that his target would be wearing a slashed headband; after all, doing such a thing would draw attention from hunter-nin. Instead, Naruto searched for anyone with weapons, with more muscle than average, or with strength in their steps.

The search proved futile so early in the morning, however, so Naruto decided it might be best to get at least a few hours of rest. It could be dangerous to rest if Jiraiya were on his heels, but it was also dangerous to wander while sleep deprived and unable to fight at one-hundred percent. Looking around to make sure the coast was clear, he henged into a civilian girl he could remember saving Jiraiya from the previous day and walked to what he assumed was the town's only in. Innkeepers were, after all, a very useful contact for someone with a spy network.

"Excuse me," henged Naruto said to whom he presumed was the innkeeper behind the desk, "do you have an extra room?"

"Of course I do for a lady like yourself!" The man grabbed a key as Naruto grabbed some yen from his gama wallet. "You know," the man said before handing over the roomkey, "my room is pretty empty if you'd like to check it out?"

Naruto was definitely not feeling up to the task of dealing with being flirted with by anyone, much less a man. "Hand me the key. Tell me the room." The yen was put on the counter, and Naruto was pleased to see the man coil backward.

"Hallway to the left, last door on the right" the man said fearfully. Naruto smiled at him, grabbed the key, and walked toward the designated room to get some rest.

Naruto slept oddly peacefully in the small room on top of a somewhat dilapidated bed. It was not exactly comfortable but it definitely beat the many nights spent out in the woods. When he awoke some three hours later, he was definitely happy to not have been slung over Jiraiya's shoulders with chakra-suppressing seals covering his body. Still, given that he was only out for a few hours, it was still definitely possible the Sage was on his way.

Leaving the inn and considering the fact that he had pretty much wasted his yen for a nap, Naruto decided he might as well get a decent breakfast to commemorate the day he finally left Konoha. Walking from street to street while keeping an eye out for missing-nin, he eventually managed to find a small food stand of some kind. Taking an empty seat, he eyed the stand operator and realized she was a woman likely around seventeen years old.

"Hello," he said, smiling as he took a seat. If there was one thing he learned over the years, it was that outside of Konoha all he had to do was act happy go-lucky and people would respond well enough. Originally, he had acted that way as some form of spite, never wanting for the village to see what he truly felt. The woman turned around and looked at him.

"Hmm… never seen you before. We don't get many tourists either. What're you in for?" Naruto couldn't tell if the woman's voice was laced with suspicion about the fact he was in town, or simply trying to joke about the town being like a prison.

"Oh, you know, just passing through. I was hoping I might find an odd job or two around here but the village doesn't look too lively. I'm surprised this stand can stay open."

"Meh," the woman shrugged her shoulders, "it's a living. My dad used to own it but well… anyway, what would you like?"

Naruto looked down at a menu and quickly made a decision. "Grilled fish, please." The woman nodded and proceeded to head into the back to cook. Unfortunately for him, the kitchen must not have been prepared yet because it took a few minutes longer than he expected for it to cook. After what felt like eternity, however, the woman came out and presented him his food.

"Hey bitch!" he vaguely heard some voice from behind him say but he was too focused on the meal presented to him to care about some random guy yelling.

"Thank you" Naruto said before looking down at his fish. "Itadakimasu!" As he began to eat, he somewhat noticed a person sit about two stools to the left of him. Naruto didn't pay the sudden arrival any attention because the fish was well cooked, and he was feeling hungry after his night traveling and brief sleep.

"Hey whore, it's me! Your favorite fucking customer! Now, why don't you be a doll and get me the usual." The voice didn't sound particularly angry considering the way he was talking, but rather, it sounded a bit oddly happy. Naruto was surprised to see the woman go back into the kitchen instead of denying the man service.

A few minutes later, as Naruto was finishing his dish, the woman came back with the man's food. He noted that it had been cooked much faster than his own. He noticed a smile forced upon her lips.

"Hot damn! It's about fucking time! I was starting to think I'd waste away to nothing while you napped in the kitchen." His meal finished, Naruto looked over at the foul mouthed man just to see who, in such a small village, could possibly be so abrasive. What he saw was very surprising.

The man appeared to be rather young, perhaps in his upper twenties, and was definitely rather muscular, which was easy to tell considering he wasn't even wearing a shirt. He had slicked back silver hair and some sort of weapon Naruto couldn't even identify. Everything about him, from his weapon to his confidence, screamed shinobi. Of course, it helped that he was wearing a headband.

Apparently, the man noticed Naruto looking and took a break from eating. "What's up with you kid? You see something you like? Cause if you do, I'll gouge out your eyes." Naruto leaned over to look at the headband, and he saw the sign of the former ninja village of Yugakure with a slash through it. For a moment, he allowed himself to think on the coincidence of meeting exactly who he was looking for at some small restaurant stand.

"You've got to be kidding me." The man turned to look at him, fire in his eyes.

"Kidding? You think I'm kidding, brat? I'd rip out your tongue but I like to hear 'em scream before they die. I'd cut you open like a stuck hog and..." the man's eyes suddenly grew wide and Naruto could tell his attention was on the Fujo Buredo. "Oh shit… it's you? No damn way. Why would he choose some kid!"

"Umm… nice to meet you?"

"You're coming with me!" The man suddenly stood up and Naruto found himself dragged out of his stool quickly as the man made a beeline for the forest. He was so surprised by the sudden action that he hardly thought to resist until they were at the treeline and by then he decided struggling might be entirely pointless. After only two minutes, at a place that Naruto could see no significance to, they stopped.

"Okay, explain how you got that sword." The man sounded pretty serious, and Naruto knew already that he was a follower of Jashin so it shouldn't be a problem to just tell the truth.

"Jashin gave it to me."

"You… you are him aren't you. Damn, you must be. The books said that only he could carry the Unholy Blade."

By this point, Naruto was definitely very confused and was hoping that the man would answer a few questions to finally clear things up. "Who am I? And who are you?"

The man looked at him with a piercing glare. "You don't even know who you are? Jashin-sama would grant such a gift to some teen with an identity crisis? Fucking hell, I swear to… you are the Prophet, kid. The only one to have been visited by Jashin-sama himself. The Bringer of Chaos, the Bane of the World. So how long have you had that sword? How many people have you killed?" Seeing the man lick his lips, he began to wonder what exactly he had gotten himself into.

Naruto had no idea what to think of his apparent titles and focused instead on just answering his questions. "Umm… I had it for a few years but it was just a regular sword until yesterday. So… I guess I've killed a few bandits with it? Who are you?"

"Bandits?! You've killed bandits! Kid, that's the damn Fujo Buredo! It's said to feast on the blood of the strong! Not some fucking bandits! Stupid rookie. What village are you from anyway?"

Naruto was caught off-guard by the question, being unused to traveling anywhere without his headband on. He barely remembered putting it in his pack last night, unscratched, having been so focused on other things. "Konoha. So, who ARE you?" The man seemed to be completely relaxed at this point, and Naruto wondered how considering the undeniable oddity of everything. He was hoping to actually get an answer to his question this time.

"You were a part of those fucking will of fire hippies? Can't say I blame you for leaving. They're half as bad as those pussies who ran Yugakure. 'Oh Hidan, there's more profit in being a tourist town than a ninja village. 'Oh Hidan, please stop killing everyone.' Pansies."

So the guy's name is Hidan. While it was some relief to finally know, that just opened up more uncertainties about the future. Like, what exactly was he supposed to do? Jashin didn't give anything specific besides meeting Hidan so maybe Hidan knew? Given the man's conduct so far, Naruto was less than hopeful. "So Hidan… what now?"

"Hmm?" Hidan looked genuinely surprised, and a small part of Naruto felt spitefully better at having the silver-haired nin finally listen to a question. "Aren't you supposed to know?"

He contemplated for a moment. Was he supposed to know? Well, nobody told him anything specific. A large part of him would love to act out against Konoha in some way but he definitely wasn't strong enough to accomplish that. No, it would have to be a long-term plan. Suddenly, a light-bulb seemed to shine in his head. "Well, there is one thing. I was on a training trip with my sensei when Jashin contacted me. So maybe you're supposed to train me?"

Hidan seemed to think about it for a moment before sighing. "That doesn't sound like any fun. Me? A sensei? Can't we just… I don't know… go slaughter that Shima-whatever village? Now that'd be fun!"

"Well, you see," Naruto knew he needed additional training. It seemed his new acquaintance was at least open to his suggestions so all he'd have to do is convince the man to listen. "As fun as that sounds, I know for a fact that my old sensei, Jiraiya of the Sannin, was within a few hours of here when I left him just yesterday and he'd be on our trail quickly when he heard about it."

"Jiraiya? Big deal. I could take him. I'm immortal!" Well this was news. How, exactly, did one become immortal? And why did Orochimaru not consider trying it instead of possessing people?

"You're immortal?" He felt like the obvious question needed to be asked.

"Of course I am! I am the ultimate result of Jashinist experimentation!"

"Right." Naruto knew he couldn't risk losing this conversation. "Despite that, though, it'll be better if we move a bit stealthily. Think about it: you train me secretly, the world forgets about either of us existing, and after a few months we'll be ready to act." At this point, the words were flowing from his mouth before he could even consider what they meant.

* * *

Training with Hidan was the most hellish thing that Naruto had ever done by far. The man was definitely some sort of masochist, seeming to only really get going after Naruto got a strike or two in. Additionally, the man had originally been significantly faster than him, and it was only after many hours every single day training that Naruto had been able to catch up. Still, he needed to get faster; he was not aiming to be the second best among the two of them; not forever.

In terms of taijutsu, he felt he had progressed nicely. Indeed, it was usually a toss-up in terms of which one of them would win a hand-to-hand fight. Naruto felt like he won the majority of the time, but Hidan would readily admit it was his worst field. The way Hidan fought, hand-to-hand was unnecessary. All he had to do was hit with one slash of his scythe, and the battle could be ended then. That led to another major problem.

Hidan knew very little about ninjutsu. At least, in terms of being able to teach it. The man had been a very capable ninja before his Jashinist-ritual, so he claimed, but all his techniques fell too far out of use for him to teach. So, they'd been training for some two months and Naruto felt vastly stronger. He could control his chakra better and had gotten the Rasengan down to one hand with no clone. Still, he had a long way to progress. They needed access to Ninjutsu. And luckily, he had a good idea of where to get some.

Yugakure was no longer a hidden village, hence the reason Hidan left. Even as a former ninja village, however, they would undoubtedly have a shinobi library with jutsu stored in it. And even though they most likely sold away most of the small-scale jutsu since it was unnecessary, they probably would have wanted to keep their best material hidden away from any potential enemies. Like a vault, hidden behind a bookcase, which Hidan so happened to know about. So, they came up with a plan. Which is to say Naruto did since Hidan kept drooling at the idea of vengeance.

The plan was simple: ten shadow clones go to the outskirts of the village and detonate explosive tags. There would not be many shinobi hired by the village in a time of relative peace. Just a few to keep the bandits and occasional missing-nin from running amok. With the majority of the active-duty shinobi investigating, it was a simple task of getting to the capital, finding the leader, and getting the code to the vault. Then they'd steal the jutsu and make their get-away. Of course, Naruto needed to protect his identity so was henged as an upper-twenties brunette shinobi he had seen making the rounds in another village while Hidan stayed himself. They were already on the outskirts, and had already begun the mission.

A few minutes later and they were inside the local capital building. There had been a few shinobi left to guard the gates but they were too few in number or skill to make much of a difference. Hidan, of course, had taken a great pleasure in toying with them but Naruto insisted he not take too long. Surprisingly, the man wrapped up rather quickly. He surmised that Hidan must have liked the plan.

They approached a man who was sitting quite calmly behind a desk in a decorated office, as if he was expecting them. "Ah Hidan, as soon as the trouble started my stomach was in knots. I guess I knew this would happen someday. Still, I'm surprised you have an acquaintance. Never took you for a team player."

"Oh can it Hikaru. You're not dead yet. Ya see, this guy, he wants to let you live. Says that you're not worth killing and all that shit. So, just give me the code to the jutsu vault, and we'll be on our way."

"So that's what this is about? A few jutsu, barely even C-ranked? I'm surprised you'd stoop so low."

Naruto wasn't buying what the man was saying for a second. There'd be no reason to keep such low-level jutsu under heavy lock-and-key; it'd be like having Substitution in Konoha's Forbidden Scroll of Seals. No, there would definitely be more than that. Naruto simply nodded to Hidan and sat down, knowing that this would not take long.

Approximately three minutes later, with a good bit of blood flowing onto the floor, a gasping and pain-filled man finally gave them the vault code that they so desired. Naruto was glad to see that Hidan could hold up to his promises in the heat of the moment; after all, there was little doubt in his mind that Hidan wanted Hikaru either dead or covered in many more slash wounds. It had, however, taken a little bit more than he expected which meant there must be something in the vault.

The jutsu vault opened, Naruto quickly created several shadow clones to shift through everything. As expected, most of the lower-level jutsu was missing; however, there was a healthy amount of B-ranked jutsu, a few A-ranked jutsu, and apparently, an S-rank jutsu. The S-rank jutsu interested Naruto the most, a Raiton and Fuuton combination jutsu called Divine's Fury. From what he knew of chakra natures, Wind and Lightning were opposites which meant this jutsu would certainly be extremely difficult to learn. Now that he had the jutsu, he would need some place to practice.

"Hey boss, look at this scroll. It's not a jutsu; just some report."

Suddenly, Naruto held in his hand a scroll entitled "Observations on the Unclaimed Lands West of the Suna Desert." For a brief moment, Naruto wondered if perhaps Jashin had in some way influenced his decision to attack Yugakure and find this scroll. It seemed weird; he knew for a fact that the entity had in no way told him exactly what to do, yet here he was with a new world of opportunity opened up to him.

"Hidan, it's time for us to go."


	3. The Mysterious West

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Misashi Kishimoto does.

"Lady Tsunade! Lady Tsunade!" A focused Shizune could be seen running through the Hokage Tower, a scroll in her hand fresh from the deciphering department. While it was not necessarily unusual to see the woman scurrying about doing many random tasks necessary for the functioning of the Hokage's office, anyone who had been in the tower for a long length of time could tell that something very concerning was on the woman's mind. The doors to the Hokage's office burst open as Shizune ran in, only to be temporarily halted by the sight of Tsunade's face down on the desk, sound asleep. Most of the time, she wondered why Tsunade was even still in that desk; obviously, there was no passion keeping her there. Remembering the object in her hand, however, she decided not to waste any time. "Lady Tsunade! This is urgent!"

The snoozing Kage awoke with a stir, having been taken away from her dream of winning big at a luxurious casino while Jiraiya lay beaten and bloodied in a corner due to his perversions. It had been a wonderful dream, and she would have been all too happy to return to it quickly until she saw the worried look on Shizune's face. Knowing her apprentice to not inflate trivial matters, she shook her head a few times to bring about a full waking of her mind. "Yes Shizune, what is it?"

"My lady, as you know, we recently sent one of our best recon teams into the Western Lands to report on unconfirmed rumors from other nations that something has changed dramatically."

"Yes, and I assume that this report indicates that something has?"

"Well, yes, but there's something else as well." Shizune was standing a bit uncomfortably, and Tsunade was sure that she was going to have to hold a council meeting simply from the look on her face.

"Not only have all hostilities ceased in the area," Tsunade's eyebrows raised but she let Shizune continue, "but all three members of the team were captured and two were executed." This was definitely a big deal; three of their best reconnaissance ninja, all vastly experienced with finely-honed skills, were captured and two of them were lost. This was not the only troublesome thing, however; in the past, any captured shinobi would be ransomed back. This was a major policy shift. What exactly had changed?

"Right, I will get right into the details of the scroll. But what about the third shinobi? I presume he survived?"

"Yes, Lady Tsunade. He is with the Torture and Interrogation department, for debriefing, assuring he has not been manipulated in some way, and counseling." Tsunade decided it best to not even try to think of what experiences would require a veteran shinobi such as Hiroki Yamanaka to be visibly in need of counseling, at least for the moment.

Hours later, all of the major clan heads in Konoha were called together for an emergency council meeting. Luckily for the Hokage, all of the clan heads were within the city as opposed to being on vacation or on some trip to visit nobility or extended family. In the grand scheme of whatever was going on, however, it seemed like a very small stroke of luck. Shibi Aburame, Chouza Akimichi, Hiashi Hyuga, Tsume Inuzuka, Shikaku Nara, Asuma Sarutobi, and Inoichi Yamanaka all sat gathered before the Fifth Hokage. None of them knew what the meeting was about for they had only been informed it was a mandatory meeting crucial to guiding the future of Konohagakure. Of course, some of them were not necessarily so sure if this was an emergency worth their time considering the current lack of explosions happening nearby.

"I thank all of you for coming. Now, before we begin, I will note that this information has to deal with a recent report from a recon team sent to investigate rumors in the West. Along this vain of thought, I would like to offer my condolences to the Aburame and Hyuga Clans for their loss." Both clan heads simply lowered their heads and closed their eyes, a gesture for a brief moment of silence. They could both think immediately of the persons who were dead, as high-level jonin such as those lost were very important to the internal affairs of a clan.

"Now, in order to allow our thoughts to be given context, I will begin with a history lesson." The only audible groan came from Shikaku, though Tsunade could practically feel the others'. "As you may know, the Lands to the West have always been a point of mutual exclusivity among the five great shinobi nations. Inhabited by many clans of many bloodlines, these numerous peoples have, for all recorded history, been at war with one another. Alliances shifted monthly, friends became enemies, battlelines shifted before major victories could be achieved. Petty war after petty war, often with no real objective of winning outside obtaining a small cash offering, has been fought between the many small clans. In a way, the lands to the West are perhaps not that different from our own history, from before the founding of our great Hidden Ninja Village. However, no real attempt has ever been made by the five great nations to capitalize on these lands.

One reason is that these people view us as outsiders and reject us at every opportunity. If we were to just go there and claim land, they would fight back. Reason two goes hand in hand with reason one. It would require too many resources to be justifiable. How many ninja would we need to station to defend new lands in the West versus how many could we actually send knowing that it is possible Kumo or Iwa will learn of our weakness and attack? The other hidden villages no doubt see it in at least a similar light. The final reason is distance. It is, for the fastest ninja, a four-day journey across the harsh deserts of Suna before they even reach the beginning of hospitable soil. For larger groups, this is not only unsafe but also an extreme logistical challenge. And so, it is for these reasons that the lands to the west have remained unclaimed by the five great nations and that the cycle of war and disunity in the lands continued. That is, apparently, until I received this report from one Hiroki Yamanaka, sole survivor of the recon team.

Now, it is important to understand that, due to the stagnant nature of the West's history, we rescinded on our policy of yearly recon teams following the Oto-Suna Invasion. It was deemed, at the time, a waste of valuable ninja in a time of vulnerability. During the last report, nothing was considered outside of the ordinary nature of the land. Once rumors were brought to my attention by reports Shinobi heard made by travelers last year, however, it was necessary to begin reconnaissance once more. Given what you are about to hear, I find it important to remember that what I am about to tell you occurred in a time-span of, at most, seven years.

The entirety of the lands to the west of the Suna Desert have been unified." Moments ago, every head in the room had been somewhat slouched, clearly not being interested in having a history lesson from the Hokage. Tsunade could tell that her last sentence definitely caught their attention.

"Lady Hokage," Hiashi said somewhat politely, "if I may clarify. Are you telling us that the entirety of a land that has been warring constantly in mostly petty conflict for over a hundred years has been unified in the seven years that we decide we must ignore it?"

"Yes Hiashi, that's what she said. Now, I want to hear how and who." Shikaku was extremely intrigued at this point; the wheels in his mind churning nonstop producing theories as to what kind of extreme force must have been introduced within the past seven years to alter the entire political landscape of the lands.

"Well, we cannot know exactly how, although the report's mention of fresh ruins being present in several cities as well as entire portions of villages being destroyed leads to the obvious conclusion of conquest via warfare. Additionally, given the nature of their behavior before now, a peaceful unification seems like it would be out of character. As to who, well, this is where it gets interesting. Here is a drawing of one of the supposedly many banners flying in one of the chief cities."

Tsunade showed them all the scroll, and immediately several stomachs churned. Represented in picture form, on the page for all to see, was a simple circle with an equilateral triangle drawn within. "What is that?" Chouza asked, representing about half of the room that did not see any meaning to the symbol yet recognized the obvious reaction among those who did.

"Lady Hokage, if I may." Tsunade nodded, so Shikaku cleared his throat. "This is the symbol of Jashinism, a religious cult whose followers found revelry from death and human suffering. This group was believed practically annihilated sometime between the Second and Third Great Shinobi Wars; however, in recent memory, there was one follower worthy of note. His name was Hidan of Yugakure. If I am putting all this together correctly, there has not been a single report of Hidan since his attack on Yugakure nearly five years ago. My best guess is that Hidan is involved in some way. By all accounts, he was a simple man who enjoyed killing and often did not think ahead. Loud, rude, crass, brutal, but doing something of this magnitude is beyond him. Which is interesting, because as I remember, when he attacked Yugakure those five years ago, he had an unknown acquaintance assisting him. From most eyewitness reports, it appeared that this unknown man was pulling the strings. So, my best guess is that this unknown figure has put this all together somehow since the timing of all of this, combined with Jashinism, makes everything seem too convenient. But that is all I can put together, please continue Lady Tsunade."

Most of the council could vaguely remember hearing of some sort of attack on Yugakure years ago, but they had ignored it due to the fact that it hardly seemed to affect Konoha in any form. Processing the information posited by Shikaku, they began to form the conclusion that any group of any size following the ideals of Jashinism posed a threat to the security of the village. They were interested to see what information was left.

"Well, this is where who is behind all this gets interesting. You see, this is all the information that our team was able to gather before they were all captured. For some unknown reason, they were transported to what appears to be the capital city, known as Kamigakure, the Village Hidden in the Divine. Interestingly, no known reports have ever mentioned such a place, so I must assume it was built within the seven year time-span as well. Hiroki noted later that the city was modern and heavily populated, construction still apparent in many areas with an apparent size almost as large as Konoha. Another point of interest is that they purposefully did not prevent him from seeing this. After a week in jail, Hiroki was forced to watch his teammates as they were executed as spies. For some unknown reason, he was not executed himself. Now, and this I find shockingly bizarre, approximately one week later he was visited by an imposing figure who returned this confiscated report that I am myself reporting to you now. This figure was, by Hiroki's account, a tall man who walked with an obvious confidence in his own strength, a strong sense of authority, and whom filled him with a sense of dread. This man, despite wearing concealing clothing that blocked any distinct features, identified himself as the Shikage. This Shikage informed Hiroki that he would be expected to give the report back to us in full, but to include this additional line. 'The beginning of the end began in Konoha.' "

"Well, that makes this simple. It's a missing-nin from the Leaf. All we have to do is check all our missing-nin lists, see who could have possibly been strong and clever enough to mastermind this, check their most recent reported locations, and narrow them down." Tsume said, believing that the tracking abilities of her clan would be best suited to helping find out who this mysterious Shikage would be.

"Actually, Tsume," Shikaku was quick to add, "it's best not to jump to conclusions. While this phrase certainly could mean that this figure is a Konoha missing-nin, and we cannot rule out this conclusion, we should think a bit more. In recent years, none who have deserted our ranks have been deemed S-ranked nin aside from Itachi Uchiha, whom may I remind you is dead. We can, however, surmise from the fact that Kamigakure seems to have modeled its city name and leadership title from our own that they were indeed united by someone from the Elemental Nations. This phrase could be meant to be deceptive, and could have several meanings. As one example: this could be a statement about how this guy views the system of Hidden Villages as the downfall of our societies, and since Konoha was the first, he'd blame Konoha. Or, it could be that he's referring to some Konoha diplomatic policy, such as some peace treaty with Kumo as the beginning of the end. Perhaps, this is some crazed ex-Iwa nin who is pursuing his perceived justice for the casualties inflicted in the last war, blaming us entirely for the conflict? Your suggestion is certainly a good starting point, I just want to advise us against narrowing our investigation into the matter too much."

Tsunade nodded ahead. "Right, excellent suggestions Tsume, Shikaku. I'll see to it that we get teams investigating possible leads as soon as possible. Now, this Kamigakure, should it really be some sort of mass Jashinist Empire, could pose an existential threat to Suna. As Suna has been an ally of ours for some time, it seems only right that we should send them a copy of this report. However, should we send copies to any of the other great nations?"

Hiashi spoke up. "Lady Hokage, that seems unnecessary. Imagine if nothing were to come of this and Kamigakure were destroyed in some local revolt within the next year. What would we have? We could have five shinobi nations, preparing to enter into a war-like state. But if nothing happens? They could perceive themselves as stronger and wars could start anyway. This upstart nation is surely too young, disorganized, and war-ravaged to take action with any kind of immediacy. For this reason, I say we only inform Suna if you deem it necessary and build our intelligence on this new village."

There was a round of nods around the room. It seemed incredibly premature to create some kind of big build-up over this new information as of now. Their energy could go into unraveling the mystery of this village and its leader, and they could move on to the next step from that point.

"Yes, you raise a good point Hiashi. It may be dangerous to create some sort of mass hysteria. Very well. We shall begin investigating this new village and attempt to identify its leader. I will assign teams to research into possibilities as well as creating new recon teams with more defined missions in order to have fewer risks in information gathering. ANBU will deliver classified updates to your clan compounds as I receive them. Should any information of particular importance arise, I will call another meeting. You are dismissed."

The clan heads began leaving the room, some of them thinking about all of the information they had just been given while others' minds were already going back to other matters. Tsunade, meanwhile, was slightly unnerved as she returned to her offices. This entire situation was uncertain and extremely dangerous, and a part of her wondered if she would even be capable of dealing with a war should one arrive.

"Don't worry, Lady Tsunade." Shizune said, as she poured a cup of tea. "You will find a way to manage this situation. I know you give yourself a hard time, but you have been a good Kage throughout the years."

Tsunade allowed herself a brief smile, glad that Shizune seemed to be able to read her mind. Sure, when she was trying to get out of paperwork, the power was very inconvenient but at least it was useful in a moment like this. "Thank you Shizune, I suppose I need to just keep my head on straight and make sure the best shinobi are in the best roles possible. Now, we need information and I think I have the perfect team in mind. Have Shikamaru, Ino, and Hinata brought to me as soon as possible."

With a "Hai," the hidden ANBU in the room were off. Tsunade allowed herself a moment to think over her strategy. All three of them were jonin now, fully capable of operating by themselves. Still, there was a lot of uncertainty about these new lands. That's why a recon team would need to have someone with Shikamaru's tactical genius. A Yamanaka was always a good choice for gathering intel, and Ino already would have a level of teamwork developed with them both. Hinata's development of defensive-techniques could prove invaluable if they need to retreat from an unfavorable scenario, and the Byakugan would help to identify any situation before going into it. Byakugan identifies a lone individual, Nara ensnares his shadow, and Yamanaka enters their mind. Perhaps it was a little dangerous to send a group of clan heirs into such an unknown situations, but this kind of mission needed the highest success rate possible and these three were all incredibly talented.

Within fifteen minutes Tsunade was looking into the sleepy eyes of Shikamaru Nara, the somewhat-agitated eyes of Ino Yamanaka, and the bashful eyes of Hinata Hyuga. From the complaining, she gleaned that Shikamaru had been napping and Ino had a full day planned. She noticed that Hinata looked a bit sadder than usual and figured that she might have heard of the recently-deceased Hyuga from the last recon team.

"Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why I've called you here. I will tell you now that this has to do with an incredibly important mission, critical for all of Konoha. I have selected you three because I think you will form the team best capable of completing it successfully. Keep in mind that everything about your mission is classified and that you are allowed to speak of it to no one but myself. With that in order, here we go: Recently, we sent a recon team to investigate rumors spreading about the lands west of Suna. To our surprise, things in the area were worse than expected. It appears that the lands have unified around one city, known as Kamigakure, with one leader known as the Shikage. It is our belief that this new village is associated heavily with Jashinism. As a rule, Jashinists revel from battle, murder, and general human misery. I'm sure now you understand why we are worried about this.

Your mission is to travel into these lands and gather basic information such as army structure, citizen morale, and leadership both local and, if possible, national. I heavily advise you against going toward Kamigakure itself as it could heavily raise the odds of mission failure. The important thing from this mission is that we get accurate intel, not necessarily that we get all the intel possible. Shikamaru, I'm depending on you to draw the line. You cannot get caught; we believe you will be executed. You must exercise extreme caution in this mission; I am counting on you. Are there any questions?"

Shikamaru no longer looked sleepy, and Tsunade assumed that he recognized the trouble and danger in this situation. "Yeah, what do we know about this Shikage fellow?"

"We know next-to nothing, but I have the Intelligence division checking every missing-nin database to see if someone has disappeared who could have done this. Personally, I believe that he must be incredibly strong if he was to unite those warring lands through conquest. Also, he seems to have no trouble with executing Konoha shinobi yet was willing to let one go with a full-report. This means he wants us to know about his existence but nothing more. You should attempt to learn about him by finding subordinates; we believe he will be associated with a missing-nin known as Hidan of Yugakure."

Tsunade waited a moment for any more questions before deciding that there would be none. "Due to the classified nature of this mission, you will not be getting a mission scroll for it. Instead, you will be receiving mission scrolls detailing a diplomatic stay for an unknown length of time in Sunagakure. Shikamaru, I suggest you read this." Tsunade handed Shikamaru a copy of the Hiroko Yamanaka report received earlier that eventful day. "This will undoubtedly help you in planning. It is for authorized eyes only. Report in at sunrise tomorrow to receive your false assignment; dismissed."

As the jonin left, she allowed herself a moment to ponder her decision further. Surely what she had just done was insane. Three clan heirs, three unique clan jutsu, being sent into an incredibly dangerous situation where it was possible they could be captured and executed. In her opinion, however, there could be no better people for the job. Besides, Shikamaru's record as team leader was nearly flawless in terms of decision-making and she provided as much information as possible. With a sigh, she allowed herself to move on and focus on other, more mundane issues.


	4. Initial Confrontation

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Misashi Kishimoto does.

"Byakugan." Hinata said lowly, veins beginning to bulge around her eyes as she pumped chakra into them. Her team had been in what they dubbed Nishi no Kuni, the Land of West, for over a week now. The journey to this land had been far more treacherous than she expected, despite the fact that she had known how hostile the Suna deserts could be. Apparently, at least according to Shikamaru, the western deserts were known for their hostility in particular. Scorching days, cold nights, lack of proper shelter, and the importance of their mission weighed heavily on all their minds.

After five days, however, they started to reach more livable land, and almost immediately they came upon what they presumed to be a small farming village. In this village, there were no evident scars of the conflict that must have occurred, no visible signs that there had been some massive life-style shift in recent years. Just a hundred or so farmers without much in the way of worldly possession; Shikamaru told them that it would be best to move on. He said that it was more likely they could be caught around a small village so close to the desert and that it was unlikely they would get intel worth the risk. Still, for Hinata, it was somewhat surprising; part of her expected to come into the country and see that everyone was some sort of blood-thirsty maniac. Eventually, they stumbled upon a larger trade village surrounded by a somewhat dense forest. This village seemed to trade products from the regional villages to any potential buyers. The three of them, however, were confined to staying on the outside reaches and avoiding all contact. Although it seemed that these people shared the same language as them, it was entirely possible that they could be identified as foreigners from appearance, customs, clothing, and many other items. This was not like a more typical information gathering where a shinobi could wander haphazardly into some bar and keep his ears open as an initial source of intelligence.

Right now, they were trying to tail a small three-man patrol that seemed to be hovering around the area. They had followed them for two days now, keeping their distance and covering their tracks as much as possible. The problem with this group was that they never seemed to separate without some sort of signal of when to return. It was a problem to abduct one member for any amount of time if you did not know that you were guaranteed a large enough window of opportunity to get information. Additionally, they could not just capture all three of them because it would raise the alarms in the area as well as run the risk of ending their mission prematurely if they had no good information. Hinata believed that the group was acting like they knew they were being followed. This was impossible, however; they had been extremely stealthy, had made no mistakes, and had kept their distance as far as her eyes would allow. More likely, and she was sure Shikamaru came to the same conclusion, these Shinobi were just alert veterans of some recent war and, given the general instability of new conquests, they were being weary of the locals. Still, she found something about them unsettling.

Suddenly, three more people entered into the range of her Byakugan. After a moment, they confronted the small patrol group. "Shikamaru, there's another group with them. What should we do?"

After a moment's thought, the Nara said quietly "Get closer; try to listen, but be careful." Hinata nodded, and saw Ino do the same thing. As quietly as possible, she crept until she could hear some of the voices. Being as careful as possible to remain distant, she had to focus to make out most of the words.

"On behalf of Shikage-sama, we're here to take over this patrol. You have been assigned two days rest before you are to report to the nearest missions-office for a new duty." She could see that the speaker was a woman, and with her Byakugan active, could tell that she maintained a substantial amount of chakra.

"Hai, Akira-sama." Hinata could see the apparent leader of this new group give the older group a scroll before the older group began to leave. Shikamaru looked at her and Ino before glancing toward them, indicating they were to follow the shinobi.

"Well, that was uneventful" one of the three ninja said, and Hinata was somewhat surprised to hear them talk like normal people given how boring their previous observation had been. Seeing the other group moving in another direction, she deactivated her Byakugan in order to conserve a bit of chakra.

"Yeah, but you know things have been kinda down lately. Shikage-sama makes sure of that."

"Anyone who goes against him… well, give them credit for how stupid they are, I guess."

"Don't have to remind me. I'm from the Akimoji clan, remember? Our old clan leader Shizuku?"

"Right, right. Well, can't say he didn't earn what he got."

"Yeah, crazy old fool. Tried to drag all of us down with him."

Judging from the fact that these shinobi referred to their leader as Shikage-sama even when no authority figures were around, Hinata assumed that they respected the man a lot. Additionally, it seemed that this man, in a short amount of time, managed to put himself above clan heads in terms of leadership. Perhaps it was a bit dangerous to judge all of this from a few shinobi, but they seemed to be random shinobi with no special reasons to respect their leader.

"Maybe it's out of my pay-grade, but I have to wonder why he's sending a Shugoshin here. Just seems unnecessary."

"Well, we're not getting all the info I'm sure. These people better just be glad that it's Akira and not Hidan."

Hinata's eyes widened, and she looked over to see Shikamaru and Ino's do the same. They all remembered Tsunade telling them about Hidan, and all of a sudden it seemed like a golden opportunity was available. Whatever this Shugoshin group was, it seemed that Hidan was a member of them. And so, apparently, was this Akira person whom had handed this group a scroll earlier. If Hidan was in someway close to the Shikage, then it only seemed reasonable that Akira would be as well.

They continued walking toward the village, but Shikamaru gave them the signal to stop following. It seemed like he wanted to discuss what they had overheard. Hinata saw Shikamaru take the time to write down a few of his preliminary findings in their mission-report, so she knew that he had gathered some important information from the conversation.

Shikamaru spoke in a low, lazy, steady voice. "Alright, it seems to me that this Shugoshin group is close to the Shikage. If we could somehow manage to get Ino into Akira's mind, we stand a good chance to learn a lot. Not only about the Shikage, but about the entire country." Hinata had already figured that Shikamaru would key-in on this person.

Ino seemed a bit hesitant toward the idea. "Do you think it will be too dangerous? After all, if Hidan is an S-ranked ninja, then couldn't this Akira person also be on that level?" Hinata allowed herself to think. Earlier, she had seen that the person identified to be Akira had a substantial amount of chakra, though it was definitely less than she saw in Kakashi-sensei or Asuma-sensei.

"When I saw her earlier," Hinata began, getting the others' attention, "she seemed to have a typical Jonin chakra level."

Shikamaru nodded, processing the additional information. "We can't allow ourselves to get complacent; even without substantial chakra reserves, she could be a threat in other ways. Also, there were two others with her, although I'd guess they don't seem too strong if Hinata has not mentioned anything of them. Although, if nothing else, it means my shadow technique will be effective. I think capture is the best strategy."

"Oh, you're going to capture me?" A voice rang out from the nearby trees, alerting all three of them. Hinata activated her Byakugan and saw the woman who seemed to be Akira behind them. Oddly, she was alone and seemed to have ditched her companions. She turned to face her as she took a defensive stance. "How interesting… Konoha-nin. That's a shame; means that at least one of you is supposed to survive. Oh well."

Hinata barely had time to process that the woman had moved before her hands, by instinct, entered into a defensive stance. It seemed that she was, at least, very fast. Within the next second, the distinctive sound of swords being drawn could be heard. It seemed she had done some sort of test of their reflexes before starting the real fight. The Akira woman walked into the open to face them. She appeared to be about six-foot tall with a lean yet clearly muscular body. She had short, dark red hair that was cut off around the top of her neck, very different from Hinata's extremely long hair. Her eyes were hazel, she wore a headband with the Jashin symbol on it, and she held two swords which were obviously, even to Hinata, of excellent craftsmanship. The confidence was clear in her eyes and posture; Hinata could only guess it was a confidence born of war.

"You know, when he told me that you'd be coming, I did not really expect you to be lurking around as soon as I got here. I suppose doubting Shikage-sama's judgment was foolish. But enough about me; let's kill you."

The woman launched into a quick dash, and Hinata immediately got between her and the group. She attempted to duck underneath the sword strikes and knock out chakra-points in the wrist, but somehow the Shugoshin avoided it with minuscule posture adjustments. After the brief first run-by, no damage was taken by anyone. Ino was now equipped with a kunai in each hand while Shikamaru merely stood there with one in his hand, though Hinata had a good idea of what Shikamaru wanted to do.

"Hinata, Ino, I need you two to maintain an active guard while I try to trap her. If either of you see an opening, just keep in mind that it may be a trap." The voice was barely above a whisper, though with the adrenaline pumping through her body right now, Hinata felt like she could hear the beat of butterfly wings. Silently, she nodded her head and assumed Ino did the same; she was too focused on the enemy-nin to have noticed. The nin rushed in, unleashing a flurry of furious strikes, slashes, overheads, and thrusts. Even with Hinata doing her best to knock out chakra points, Ino blocking the strikes, and Shikamaru waiting for the right opportunity, somehow, it felt like they were outnumbered. Every time one strike was parried, another was on the way; every time they blocked from the right, another blow came from the left. Hinata would have given anything to have been able to watch this woman and Tenten fight.

After what seemed like eternity but was only realistically about two minutes, the blows came to a halt and Hinata allowed herself to breathe. Looking at her arms quickly, she noticed a series of very minor cuts in non-vital areas. Quickly looking toward Ino, she noticed the same pattern occurring. At the time it had felt like they were mounting a perfect defense, though now it was obvious that this woman was exploiting some flaw in their execution.

"Are you okay Ino?" Hinata knew, in her mind, that Ino was a jonin-level kunoichi whom had been in more dire health situations than her current one before, but it still seemed like the right question to ask.

"Yeah. Damn she's quick. Didn't even feel the cuts."

Suddenly, Hinata realized where this battle was going. Akira would continuously attack them, inflicting minor damage until it added up into major blood loss and prevented them from fighting effectively. Her quick movement would prevent Shikamaru from ensnaring her easily, and she would be able to deal with both Ino and herself through her current method. Thinking quickly, Hinata saw one way to quickly end the fight in their favor. She got into a position, one foot in front of the other, palms outstretched. The next assault began quickly, but Hinata stood there waiting for the perfect timing. It would have to be executed nearly flawlessly if it was going to work as intended. She could feel her chakra building-up, waiting for her to unleash it. As one of Akira's sword hands approached, time seemed to slow down.

"Protective Eight Trigrams: 64 Palms!" Suddenly, it was as if a web of chakra was surrounding her and all of Akira's chakra points were some kind of neon signs. Her movements, though impressive relative to how slow this technique usually made others' movements, were still significantly slowed. Hinata easily side-stepped the first blade and allowed her body to move of its own accord.

"Two Palms!" A quick double palm-strike toward the chest, unfortunately dodged through some kind of agile back step.

"Four Palms!" Two more strikes, this one aimed at each of her arms. The strike on the left arm hit a non-crucial chakra point near the bicep; the other missed.

"Eight Palms!" A barrage of additional strikes, aiming at the legs and waist. Akira was barely able to dodge these, and Hinata quickly surmised that the woman's best agility traits were in the legs.

"Sixteen Palms!" A flowing movement of palm strikes to every part of the body. Several hit, though were once more in non-vital areas. Hinata began to wonder if perhaps Akira was aware of her own chakra system but found the idea unlikely.

"Thirty-two Palms!" Double the strikes, aiming for every target of opportunity. At this point, it was clear that Akira was somehow able to react in time to save herself from some of the jutsu's effects so Hinata was really hoping to just hit her enough times that the total number of hits would render her incapable of fighting.

"Sixty-four Palms!" The final barrage of strikes, the quickest succession of hit after hit yet. As the jutsu finally ended, Hinata counted that she had closed approximately twenty-four chakra points on Akira's body. While this may not have ended the fight like she wanted, there was no doubt that the enemy-nin would exhaust chakra more quickly and move just a bit slower.

Hinata could see the red-head staring at her, panting somewhat heavily as her arms hung down somewhat loosely. For her part, Hinata was also breathing heavy. The jutsu she had used was very chakra-intensive and, perhaps, she would even be worried about its results were it not for the presence of Ino and Shikamaru.

"Well, I suppose I should have been more careful around your damn Byakugan." Suddenly, she leaped into the air. "And of course you're still here, huh Shadow Boy?" Hinata had not even noticed Shikamaru begin his Shadow-Possession Technique and had also not noticed the shadow creeping along the ground. It was always surprising when Shikamaru took a calculated risk and it did not work as expected. "That's alright, I'm game."

Akira tossed her swords into the air briefly as she began doing hand-signs. Hinata could see the chakra building up and prepared herself for a defensive rotation if necessary.

"Ninja Art: Mistress of the Flame!" Suddenly, the swords were back in Akira's hand. Only this time, the swords were encased in flames from the jutsu. Without a word of warning, the woman went back on the offensive. Hinata quickly decided that the only safe way to counter this jutsu was to dodge and adapt before looking for counters. Before, she had attempted to sneak-in attacks by barely dodging the blades; doing so now would result in burns.

Ino counter-attacked from Hinata's left, helping to slow Akira's assault. The woman was, however, quite adept at dodging Ino's rather bland kunai-work relative to her sword skills. Still, it was a distraction that bought them all some time so nothing to complain about. After perhaps a minute, they were all separated once more. It was impressive that the woman was able to dodge most of her gentle fist attacks and Ino's kunai attacks all while periodically dodging Shikamaru's shadow possession technique.

" _Hinata,"_ a voice rang out from within her own head, and it took her only a moment to realize that it was Ino using some sort of telepathic jutsu. _"This is going nowhere. I'll_ _attack_ _; Hinata, you go for her hands. Try to disarm her._ _Shikamaru, distract her. Sound good?"_

She nodded and saw Shikamaru do the same. It did not really seem like an easy plan, considering this woman had managed to maintain the offensive throughout the confrontation so far. Still, a change was needed if they were going to win and get information from her. Or, at the least, simply not get captured and possibly tortured and executed.

Ino charged forward, throwing shuriken she had gathered between her fingers. Akira, however, easily deflected the small projectiles, though Hinata could see a slight questioning look in her eyes at the sudden change. Hinata took off on the offensive as well, aiming to follow up Ino's attacks. She was sure Shikamaru would figure out some way to use his skills to further the plan; she always had faith in her teammates. Ino quickly reached the awaiting blades mistress, enacting a quick barrage of kunai slicing and swinging that would have undoubtedly cut apart the average Chunin before they knew what hit them. This woman, however, was visibly treating Ino as a sideshow, seemingly looking past the blonde and instead straight at Shikamaru. Obviously she was expecting some sort of Shadow jutsu. Hinata jumped into the fray, repeatedly targeting her opponents wrists as she danced her strikes around Ino while avoiding her flaming swords. Theoretically, if she could hit Akira's wrists and close the chakra point, since the jutsu was still active it would cause her hands to twitch open and drop the swords. Hopefully, the fight could only get easier against an unarmed opponent, especially one such as this. This was easier said than done, however, and landing a strike was proving very difficult.

Suddenly, Akira jumped backward and Hinata saw in her peripheral vision a shadow approaching quickly. Next, the woman charged straight toward Shikamaru. For a moment, Hinata worried for her friend's safety. That was only until she saw Ino performing handsigns.

"Mind Body Switch!" She yelled, before her whole body fell limply onto the ground in a harsh fashion. Moments later, the charging mistress stood still and Hinata recognized that it was a success. The woman's fault had been to charge in a predictable fashion and, since she seemed to recognize their clan jutsu, underestimate the degree to which Ino had mastered the technique.

"Quickly, Shika… use your shadows. Her will's fighting… don't have long."

Shikamaru's shadow possession jutsu quickly rendered the woman immobilized, and Ino began to stand up as she ended her jutsu. Shikamaru spoke "Hinata, knock her out."

"I guess I underestimated you Konoha-nin. I've learned a lot though; I suggest you kill me if you know what's good for you. This will not happen next time."

Hinata was somewhat interested to know what kind of strategy this Akira woman was playing at. It would be of no long-term benefit to them to kill the woman; it would only give a proper cause for war. But for some reason, mention of a next time made her nervous, as if the woman felt she would have an opportunity to fight them again. No, she knew that she would live. Hinata closed off a few of her chakra points, rendering her unconscious.

Shikamaru relaxed ever so slightly, having been tense throughout the entire fight and even when he had the nin in his jutsu. "Alright Ino, you know..."

"Excuse me." A low voice arose from the nearby trees, interrupting Shikamaru and surprising all three of them. Hinata was the most surprised, not being entirely sure how her Byakugan had failed to detect the man previously. Especially since the figure had, by a fair margin, the largest chakra supply she had ever seen. It was like his body had some sort of internal blue flame. "She'll be coming with me."

The man was wearing a black cloak with a hood on, as well as some sort of mask. Interestingly, Hinata could see no symbols on him showing his affiliation, which meant one of two things: Either this man was a powerful ninja who worked for no established villages, or he was so powerful and well-known that the usage of such symbols were unnecessary, similar to how Tsunade wore no Konoha headband within the city. "And who are you exactly?" she heard Shikamaru ask.

"It was an entertaining fight. I was curious how a three-nin group would handle my Shugoshin. Revision is necessary." At this point, he was walking directly toward the downed Akira, not showing any sign of caution or defensiveness toward them. Hinata could practically feel the confidence permeating off of him, and something told her that they would be at his mercy.

"Hinata, how much chakra does he have?" She forgot that Shikamaru did not have access to the same information she did. She was just so taken aback by the sudden intrusion of the figure that she forgot to communicate with her team effectively.

"Umm… High Kage." She could see the surprise in Shikamaru's eyes. Perhaps, if the three of them were full of chakra, they could fight. However, she was nearly depleted from using the six trigrams, Ino was low from using medical jutsu to heal a few cuts as well as her clan jutsu, and only Shikamaru had a significant amount left. This guy could be the most unskilled fighter she had ever encountered, and he would probably still defeat them from attrition alone.

"One of you will surrender yourself to me; the other two shall leave these lands. Either you accept this, or two of you will die." There was little inflection, no sign that the words were anything but a statement. He just continued walking slowly toward them, body visibly relaxed.

"And how can we be sure of our safety?" Shikamaru seemed to have registered that fighting was a poor choice, but Hinata knew that Shikamaru would be trying to figure out which choices gave them all the best chance of living.

"You came into my lands and knocked out one of my Shugoshin. You have no assurances beside my word that I will not personally kill you now."

Hinata could see that Shikamaru was not satisfied with the answer, but she could find no real alternatives. Either the man was telling the truth and two of them would get the chance to escape back to Konoha, or he was lying and their position would really be no different than it was right now. This would require a leap of faith that she knew Shikamaru would never be willing to take.

"I'll stay. Shikamaru, Ino, leave."

"But Hinata, what if he's..."

"Ino, what would lying accomplish for him? He could have ambushed us already. This is the best chance we have."

The man grabbed the unconscious woman's body and unceremoniously threw her over his shoulder before turning his back toward the group. Hinata deactivated her Byakugan before taking a few steps toward him, expecting to be knocked out or tied up and thrown over his other shoulder. Instead, the man jumped onto a nearby tree branch and stood still. She was confused but hesitantly jumped onto the branch a few feet away. The man jumped again.

Hinata looked back toward Ino and Shikamaru. They were clearly still hesitant about her impromptu plan. She smiled toward them and nodded. There was no doubt in her mind that the information they had already gathered, while not as much as they had hoped for, was worth her imprisonment. Additionally, she was certain that Shikamaru had managed to deduce that this man was most likely the so-called Shikage. And that, somehow, he had known they would be here in advance. She took one more leap, losing sight of her teammates.

* * *

A/N: Wow, time flies doesn't it? Didn't expect it to take this long to update, but as they say, life finds a way. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter; feel free to review. I am especially interested in your thoughts about the fight scene and overall direction of the plot thus far, but all feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	5. Ten Days Later

Naruto – Dark Disciple

Chapter 3: Ten Days Later

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Misashi Kishimoto does.

The door to the Hokage office flew open, and for a split-second Tsunade actually thought it might be possible that they were under attack. It was only a mild relief when she saw Shizune's face, because she could tell immediately that something of utmost importance was going on.

"Lady Tsunade! Team Shikamaru has returned!" Her assistant was very visibly disturbed and she could tell without asking that something was not quite as it should be.

"Send them in!"

It did not take very long to figure out what exactly was wrong, whenever Ino and Shikamaru walked into the room out of breath. She kept waiting, perhaps naively, for Hinata to follow them, but the door was closed. The air in the room began to feel thick, almost becoming hard to breathe. Of course she had known there was a great risk involved, but she thought that the three of them would be able to do it. It seemed so wrong for Hinata to not be with them, the girl who had gone through so much and worked so hard, especially since…

"Hokage-sama, Hinata was captured." Tsunade allowed herself a quick breath. Perhaps, she had assumed the worst too quickly. Although, her mind was very quick to recall that the last Hyuuga that was captured was killed. It hurt to think that there was almost nothing they could do to rescue her.

"Give me the details" she said, barely recognizing her own voice. It seemed like a lie for her voice to come out so confident and assured, given her internal turmoil. Perhaps this is what it meant to be a true Kage?

She saw Shikamaru take out a scroll, and assumed immediately it was his mission report. That would have a lot of the large-scale information she wanted, undoubtedly, but she wanted to know what exactly had happened with Hinata.

"We were outside a village, eavesdropping on a team of shinobi, when we were ambushed by a ninja that we can only assume was a part of an elite group. After a prolonged struggle in which we sustained minimal injury, Ino was able to effectively neutralize her with a jutsu. We were preparing to have Ino enter into her mind to extract information when we were surprised by the arrival of a figure which, from his attitude, appearance, and word choice, I can only presume was the Shikage."

Tsunade felt her eyebrow raise, but did not think that she needed to say anything for Shikamaru to know what she wanted to hear. "He was wearing concealing clothing and a mask, so we could not make any sort of identification. He offered to let two of us go if one of us volunteered to become a prisoner. I was hesitant, not wanting to trust him, but Hinata… she volunteered. He recovered the down ninja, then left with Hinata. Ino and I decided to try to get out of the country, trusting in Hinata's choice. The journey back was largely uneventful, minus one freak sandstorm that delayed us."

She sat there for a moment, mulling over all of the information. It was a significant loss to not have someone of Hinata's skill level available for an indefinite amount of time. It was an additional shame that they got no new information regarding the Shikage for their troubles. There was still hope, however, that whatever intel they had gathered would prove to be useful. But was any amount of information worth Hinata? Maybe it would have been better to have not sent the mission in the first place.

"Lady Hokage," Ino spoke up, to her slight surprise. "I would like to volunteer myself for any missions assigned to rescue Hinata."

"Look, Ino, there is a high-risk potential threat that we know little about looming on the horizon. I don't think that I could possibly justify sending anyone with the specific goal of rescuing Hinata." Ino was visibly getting prepared to protest, so she put a hand up. "That being said, I'll be sure to keep your name on the short list for any future intelligence missions to Nishi. If Hinata were to be freed as a secondary goal, that would be acceptable. Understood?" She saw the girl nod. "Good. Dismissed, remember that you were in Suna on a diplomatic mission. I will inform Hiashi about his daughter, though officially, she's still in Suna."

As the two left the room, a frown formed on her face. "Bring me Hiashi Hyuuga." An ANBU left the room and she sighed; this was not a conversation she was looking forward to.

* * *

He stood at the end of a large table, overlooking its contents. On the table was the most detailed map of the Elemental Nations that he had ever seen, intricately put together based on every bit of intel available to the intelligence division. Every city, village, bridge, river, valley, and mountain range of any strategic importance was included. He studied it nearly every day, at least for a few minutes.

Years of war and more recently of reading had sparked a certain strategic interest inside of him. In the beginning, he did what made sense and if it didn't work he would make it work. It was not eloquent and would never be studied, but it was effective. Now, however, he used this board to envision strategies, counter-strategies, the effects, possible decisions, how he would react, battle strategies for every major location. It was exciting.

"Shikage-sama," a man came in, kneeling immediately with a bow. The people of this land were quick learners, he would always give them that. They took exceedingly well to learning new techniques and new chains of command. It was nice to have them at least somewhat willing to bend to his will; it'd be inconvenient to have to force everyone.

"General."

"I have begun stockpiling the supplies as you requested. Do you have any additional commands?"

"No. Dismissed."

General Hideki was an interesting man. Fiercely loyal, his first important follower in his conquests. Formerly leader of the Itama clan, forced to relinquish the title upon assuming a position as a general. The Itama clan were nothing but the dregs of these lands huddled together, forced to depend on each other because they had nobody else. They had a strong survivalist spirit and a great will when he came upon them. That said, it was not too hard to convince them to take him in and it was even less difficult to convince them to follow him once they were attacked.

Hideki very publicly surrendered control of his shinobi forces to him at the onset of that war. It only took about a day to crush the resistance to the move, and then he began to establish the basics of a command structure. Of course, at the time, the force was so small that it really became a showcase of his personal talents. Still, the experience was appreciated. And Hideki had been loyal ever since, a follower from the beginning. A man willing to sacrifice his own power to one greater than him.

At the moment, he was in charge of logistics. It was an interesting task to provide security across the entirety of the unified lands while aspiring for more. Making sure all these people were paid, properly informed, knowing the chains of command, was not an easy job. But Hideki would do it; the man seemed to have a mind for those sorts of things. Not the best fighter, certainly, but clever. Possibly dangerous, as the clever ones always could be, though no signs from him up to now indicated such.

War was a strange thing, he found himself thinking. There are so many opportunities for improvement, for innovation, for creativity within the field of battle. This is why all of the truly great shinobi were forged in the fires of war; it forced them to better themselves and to find solutions, forced leaders to come up with new strategies to defeat enemies. And yet, in a moment, a stray kunai from an entire field away could lodge into your throat and end everything. Perhaps it would, however, be less exciting without the exhilaration of a possible defeat.

Without thinking, he found himself walking toward his mask. He really only wore the mask to keep his identity hidden from outside shinobi; he had no idea how people got the idea that he only wore the mask when he was executing traitors. People had the ability to come up with the strangest of rumors; why, exactly, would he have to wear a mask to execute the traitors when he would want them to get a full look at his face as their last image? Putting on the mask, he then threw on a hood in order to cover his hair.

As he walked toward the dungeon area of his palace, he thought for a moment about his prisoner. Hinata Hyuuga. It was interesting that Tsunade was willing to send three major clan heirs into his lands; she must have had great confidence in their skill. It was a great disappointment to see Akira defeated, even if she was one of the weakest Shugoshin the girl showed great potential. He would make sure the woman received a proper re-education on the importance of battle tactics and remembering her opponents abilities. Every single one of his Shugoshin were expected to know at least the minimum about every major clan trait in the Elemental Nations.

When he offered the three Konoha-nin the ultimatum, he already knew whom of the three would accept it. All of his information about the Hyuuga heiress indicated such. Perhaps he had expected the Yamanaka to resist more vehemently, but that was of small consequence. Absentmindedly, he considered that this would be the first time he had seen her since she surrendered herself. It would be interesting to see if the dungeon master had followed his orders.

On the top floor, in the first cell on the left, he could see through the dimly lit bars the figure of a girl lying on a bed. From initial observation, it did not seem that she had lost any weight thus far and he assumed that she was being fed as he ordered. As interesting as it had been to experiment a bit on the previous prisoners' mental states, this girl would be living the easy life. Relatively speaking, of course.

"What do you want?" the girl said, somewhat weakly, though much more strongly than previous captors were able to in a similar period of time. He saw her sit up, and made a quick mental note that no chakra suppressing seals were present by her eyes. He wondered if she would be able to use the Byakugan in such a state and figured that the upcoming days could be quite interesting if she was. The dungeon master was not a particularly skilled ninja, and he figured that someone of her level would undoubtedly be able to kill him by using some charm and a piece of stored away silverware.

He did not respond to what she said, choosing instead to simply observe. He did not really know why he chose to do so; perhaps his curiosity got the better of him. After a brief moment, however, he decided to at least move closer to the bars to see her reaction. It was interesting to see no fear in her eyes, but rather, the clear look of interest. Perhaps he had been too kind to allow her to travel all the way to the capital unrestrained, but really, someone with her abilities would know that trying to escape would be futile.

"Are you the Shikage?" A harmless enough question, really. She already knew; the Nara probably already had it in a report handed over to the Hokage at this point. He nodded.

"What do you want with me?" That question seemed a bit vain; the girl had volunteered herself, he would have gladly taken either of her teammates as captives. Perhaps, what she meant was, 'What do you want with a Konoha-nin captive?' Yes, that made more sense; he could answer that truthfully.

"Nothing." The fight had been entertaining but, despite his disappointment in Akira, it seemed unfair to her to allow all three of them to escape. If nothing else, the fight helped him to see that he had possibly overestimated his Shugoshin and that they would not be able to take on a team of highly-skilled enemy ninja individually. There was no particular need for a prisoner, but it had really been more of a spur of the moment decision. It could be possible that having a prisoner for Konoha to focus on rescuing will blind them to broader movements.

"What are you planning?" Did she really expect him to answer that, to go on some sort of diatribe describing all of his secret plans that not even his generals were fully aware of? While he had every confidence she would never be able to escape, it seemed a bit silly to tell a prisoner about anything he was planning to do. Most of the things in his head were not even finalized anyway. He didn't even respond to this one; if the girl wanted him to participate in this strange game they had established, she would have to ask better questions.

"Why are you here?"

"I don't know." He had not expected to give such a quick impulsive response; it was rather uncharacteristic of himself nowadays. In this case, there was no great harm to doing so, but there were so many cases where it could be. He would have to make sure not to allow it again. It was interesting really, seeing her relax a bit at his answer.

"Did my teammates get back to Konoha?" Could there be any real danger to letting her know? Perhaps he should have brought the head of interrogation down here with him but he could be a bit disagreeable on occasion and would have undoubtedly told him not to worry about talking to her. Maybe if she thought they were safe she would be more willing to surrender information, but he doubted she had access to anything that would be much use.

"I have received no reports of their capture." The simple truth. He had not killed them on the spot, as promised, and they managed to escape without being captured by any of his other shinobi. He was not too worried; based on their whereabouts he knew that they had no information of vital importance at the time. If they had continued their mission his forces would have undoubtedly outed them by now.

She breathed a sigh of relief. It intrigued him at how willingly she put her teammates before herself. He knew that it only limited her, however. If you put all your value in others, then you will never be able to improve yourself. You will always be trying so hard to match them, to make sure that you do not hold them back, that you will fail to see how they are the ones holding you back. The greatest reason to get stronger was to prove to yourself that you could, not to others.

"Why worry about your teammates when you are the one here, imprisoned?" Curiosity always proved to be a strong trait of his, one of the few that he could seldom restrain.

"Because, in Konoha, we're taught to fight for others before ourselves." He almost laughed; at least, he cracked a small smile at her naivety.

"Really? And if you fight for others, what drives you to improve yourself? What if the others don't approve?" Perhaps it was cheating to use what little knowledge he had of the Hyuuga clan, in particular its leader, in a way that could discourage the girl. But all is fair in war, is it not? He wanted to hear her response.

"You train to protect them anyway, regardless of what they think. I knew… someone, a long time ago… he was hated by everyone but he always tried to improve himself anyway, to be a ninja that could protect them." Well, now this was just getting odd.

"And what happened to him?" It felt strange, bantering with the girl in this way. The entertainment of it all was appreciated, of course, though he knew that he was being far too interactive at this point.

"He… disappeared while training."

"What was his name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki." Her eyes became hard as steel when she said the name, her resolve strengthened. Any weakness was gone from her voice. It was very interesting to see the effect that that name had on her.

The conversation, by this point, was proving tiresome and significantly less fascinating than it had been earlier. He turned around and took a few steps before he heard her voice calling after him.

"Wait! Who are you?" So, she was still trying to gather information for her village? How admirable. He took off his mask and lowered his hood. A part of him knew that he needed to go through with this, to get the curiosity out of the way once and for all. Another part laughed at him for succumbing to a momentary whim. He turned to face the girl, but knew it was too dark for him to be seen. He took a few steps toward the bars, until he was mostly lit.

Her eyes grew wide and she sat completely still, visibly shocked. He wondered if her reaction was unique or if everyone else would be comparably surprised.

"Hello Hinata, it's been some time." She seemed to shake herself out of her daze, and he found himself smiling softly. He had been curious for so long about how certain people would react to finding out about who he had become. Perhaps now he could put that silly question behind him and focus more on the many tasks ahead.

"N...Naruto?" Her voice was weak, almost broken. He could practically see the questions stirring in her eyes. It actually felt weird to hear his name being spoken directly to him; it had been so long since he had gone by it. An alias had been used when he first arrived to these lands, and even now that name was mostly stricken from the records. To these people he was the Shikage; they had no alternative for addressing him.

Now he could finally say his curiosity was completely sated. "Please enjoy your stay. I hope you find the accommodations to your liking." He smiled a bit, enjoying the atmosphere. He always did have a bit of a taste for the dramatic he supposed. With that said, he turned around and walked away, ignoring the string of questions the dazed girl eventually managed to squeak out. Oddly enough, it felt like there was some sort of light weight lifted off of his shoulders.

* * *

A/N: Yes, probably the most obvious reveal of all-time right? Still, I hope you are all happy to have the first Naruto-centric POV of the story; there will be plenty more to come. Thank you for reading, and as always, reviews are welcomed. Let me know what you think of the plot thus far, how you feel about the characters, any grievances you have. Thanks again.


	6. The Meeting

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Kishimoto does.

It had been a long time since he had set foot in the Land of Fire; maybe that's why he was currently in a bar. Dealing with all of the memories of his long life would surely force anyone to need a bit of alcohol, in some attempt at drowning at least a few of them. Sake was truly a drink divine in origin; it was a shame that its effects didn't last longer. It seemed like, for a long time now, he was never truly feeling up to himself without having a bit to drink. Perhaps that made him an alcoholic but it was hard to worry about that with everything else wrong in the world.

"Sake please" he told the bartender, who quickly provided. He poured some for himself, eyeing no nearby beauties to offer to share. 'To Orochimaru' he thought, taking a swig. Snake bastard. If only he had seen how evil the man was, how much his desire for power perverted his thinking. But no, he had been the good friend, covering for every occasional mishap and providing a few too many alibis. Next thing he knew, there was some human testing facility under Konoha. If only the Uchiha hadn't gotten to him first. Amazingly, the Sake was already gone. He really needed to stop drinking it like some sort of routine, but it was hard when he started thinking. 'To Minato' he thought, a bit more remorseful this time. His prized student, a friend, someone who looked up to him and ignored all of his flaws. A great flame extinguished far before its time. The things that the Namikaze could have done with his power, influence, charisma, and dream… but instead, he sacrificed himself with a seal.

Two down already? Well, he was in the Land of Fire; makes sense he'd drink more than usual. Besides, it was relatively safe in these parts anyway. Another one. 'To Tsunade' he said mentally this time, thinking to his long time teammate whom he had not spoken to in years. Had they stayed in touch at all since she had become Hokage? No, of course not. She wouldn't want to see him anyway, not after what happened. He knew she blamed him a little bit for losing a crucial part of her world, even if she may not say it directly. Oh well, he'd see her in a few days anyway. He had another swig left, so added a quick 'To Hiruzen' to honor his late sensei. Killed by his former favorite student; at least the man had lived to see old age, though now that he thought about it, maybe that was a bit overrated.

"Naruto" he said abruptly, but not very loudly, and it seemed like nobody noticed. At this point, he recognized that he was quite drunk, but he was sure he could handle more. It was always fascinating, thinking about the brat. Some kid who tied himself into too many of his memories. Orochimaru? He thought of Naruto fighting that Kabuto guy. Minato? Naruto's father, though it seemed that one was still a well-kept secret to everyone. Tsunade? The brat had been more effective at retrieving her than he had been in years. It always seemed like those two had a special connection of some kind; the kid always seemed softer around her. Hiruzen? The old man cared a lot about Naruto; that first month when he had the brat as a student, he'd ask for updates everytime they talked.

The kid deserved credit, he'd say that much. It was a very thorough distraction he lay down all those years ago, making it look like Iwa had abducted him. In the panic of that morning he had followed the scarce tracks for a bit too long before noticing that they were planted; he couldn't even recall teaching Naruto in the arts of evasion. Then again, the kid was always quick to think on his feet. If he had not underestimated him, then he probably could have tracked him down. But he'd challenge even an Inuzuka to have done better while hungover with no dogs. He had wanted to avoid doing a reverse summoning for a while, due to the way that he would undoubtedly be mocked by the toads for losing a student, but was surprised to learn that even a month later it no longer worked.

To this day, he had not figured out why exactly Naruto chose to run away. Perhaps it was some dissatisfaction with Konoha; after all, they were near the end of the training trip and everything had seemed fine for quite some time. Sure, maybe he should have acted against the kid's anger, but it seemed like a productive anger, one driving him to train. It could have also been some side effect of continued usage of the Kyuubi's chakra; they were in uncharted territory in terms of experimentation.

Maybe it had something to do with the training. The kid was always a little brash, maybe he thought he'd learn more on his own. That seemed rather unlikely though, seeing as how Naruto seemed to respect his strength and wisdom for the most part. Or maybe he was remembering things incorrectly; he was a bit intoxicated. Maybe it was none of these things; that Naruto simply wanted to live a quiet life in some little village that nobody cared about.

Sometimes he thought about the last option. That Naruto was in some small village in the lands of some poor country, working as a farmer, married to the beautiful daughter of the local lord. Given Naruto's affinity for people, the daughter probably loved him only half as much as the lord. Every morning he'd wake up at the crack of down in order to tend the fields, and all the other villages would be astounded to see one-hundred shadow clones tenuously working. Then again, the kid would only be, like, twenty-three or something. Nah, no student of his would be tied down already. Even Minato had been a little older. Though it would be nice, living in some quiet village. No politics, no hidden agendas, no spying, no prophecies.

Prophecies, yes, they were the greatest pain of his life. Listening to some bumbling Elder Toad who might have just been completely insane; sometimes he had doubts about the truthfulness of his words. Then again, who knows, maybe Naruto doing nothing will save the world, or doing nothing will doom it. But if that was the case, then why would the Elder single out one of his students? What would make them special enough? He sighed, taking another swig. Naruto had always been too ambitious to choose the lazy life of simple luxury, that he was sure of. The kid was either in big trouble or doing well for himself by now. How the kid managed to avoid him entirely while doing anything, though, was a troublesome thought.

He finished off his sake and decided to finish the drinking early; it would be better to distract himself with one of the other shinobi vices. "Alright ladies, keep calm, Jiraiya the Gallant Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku is here to entertain!"

Distracting one failure with another.

* * *

"Shika, do you think that Hinata's okay?" A concerned Ino asked, not for the first time.

The weary Nara sighed. Ever since that mission, Ino had been clinging around him a lot more. Even though they had been teammates for years, they had never really lost anyone while on a mission together despite the many times that one of them certainly had been a bit too close. The fear of losing someone could evoke strange emotions; he didn't have to think too far from himself to realize that. "Yes, I do not think he would have offered us such peaceful conditions to leave if he intended on hurting her." Part of him did think that, though another part of him was quite worried about the Hyuuga Kekkai Genkai. Such a trait would really not be helpful to Hinata at this time.

The blonde relaxed a bit, and it made Shikamaru able to enjoy his cloud watching just a bit more. Honestly, the girl could be so cool whenever she wasn't so bossy or high-strung. He guessed that an Ino that was not bossy was no Ino at all. Still, it'd be silly to think the conversation was finished already; he might as well get on with it. "Are you worried we won't get her back?"

"Of course I am! Aren't you? She could be sitting in some dungeon, starving to death, tons of perverts having their way with her malnourished body! Or already dead."

Girls were so troublesome, always jumping to the worst conclusions. "Yes, those are all possible. I suppose we just have to believe that she's okay then."

"All we can do is just… believe?"

"Yep. Until we rescue her of course."

"I guess you have a point."

"Of course I do."

"You're such a know it all."

He rolled his eyes before he closed them, deciding that actually watching the clouds might not be as enjoyable as simply listening to the world around him. It could be a bit more relaxing than just watching clouds since sometimes the clouds could have shapes and he would think about why they had those shapes. When he closed his eyes, however, then there was only sound and, even if occasionally there was a bit much sound, at least he didn't have to worry about visuals. That was one whole less sensory function to concern himself with. Strangely enough, he was sure that he heard Ino slide just a bit closer. Probably just his imagination acting up.

* * *

"Lord Kazekage, our analysts have deciphered an urgent message from Konoha."

Gaara still felt a little odd hearing himself referred to by his title, despite having it held it a good number of years. The position of Kazekage was never one he had thought he would find himself in; indeed, when he was younger, he would have killed anyone who suggested it. The thought that he had taken after his father would send him over the edge. That all changed, however, when he met Naruto Uzumaki. Uzumaki taught him a special lesson; that to hate everything was to get nothing accomplished. So, as he recovered from his first and thus far last defeat, he realized something: the only thing he truly hated was his father. Unfortunately for him, Orochimaru took care of his father before he could. So really, that left one way at revenge: for the son that his father wanted dead to take over the position as village leader. And really, it was almost too easy to get the job once he stopped killing everyone. Now, his father was nothing but some relic of the past while he presided over an entire village. The justice was almost too perfect.

"Leave it."

The man left the scroll on his desk as Gaara quickly began examining it. It was always nice to get a break from the typical, every day work. It was amazing, in an odd kind of way, that the village saw fit to bestow upon their chosen leader a burden by which few would wish upon anyone. He was definitely surprised by what he was reading. A United West, some hidden village calling itself Kamigakure, some Shikage figure, two Konoha-nin executed. Still, he read through the entire document before allowing himself time to really think. Once he was done, he simply thought things over.

As interesting as all of it was, there was little he could do with the information. The village was already struggling economically, with a budget that could barely afford to keep them as a Top Five shinobi nation, so it was not like he could commence some military build-up. They had only finished paying reparations for the failed invasion of Konoha two-years ago and were finally beginning to recover a bit; it'd be foolish to halt the progress based on so little information. Additionally, what were the odds that the upstart village would be able to deal with its own issues effectively enough to become an issue to others? He put the scroll away before returning to his more regular paperwork.

* * *

Naruto sat in his office, likened more to a throne room than the average Kage office. It was a large room in which he sat upon a finely decorated, custom made chair in front of a desk with carvings of scenes depicting major victories in war. The walls were painted in dark undertones, with Jashin's symbol serving as a repeating motif along with various other depictions of wartime activities and prior great battles. Besides his desk, there was a row of items of particular importance behind him, such as his sword. In front of him were four chairs, none of which were nearly as decadent as anything else within the office. Its occupants were meant to understand that their position was below his, given to them as an extension of his own power. The current occupants of the chairs were an impressive bunch. General Hideki Itama, General Kenchi Okoya, General Hiroto Haruki, and Head of Intelligence Shinzen Ryu. Together, they were probably the most influential of all his subordinates.

Kenchi Okoya was never a public figure. The Okoya clan were known only vaguely to astute students as an exceedingly average clan, with no kekkai genkai or any other inherent advantages that other clans tended to have. They had not been among the fully independent clans upon his arrival; instead, they had been in partnership with the Tojo clan and together formed one of the stronger alliance of the previously divided country. The war against the Tojo-Okoya was very interesting, due both to their leadership and its outcome. In the world of shinobi it could be a very difficult thing to be unpredictable, because any good leader expected the unexpected. Still, it was odd to Naruto because the enemy troops seemed to have orders to lure opponents into ambushes and to never engage his ninja without a numerical advantage. Rather than rely on the quality of their best ninja to pull through, they tried to maximize the effect that the average shinobi could have upon the outcome. While not necessarily a new way of thinking, they had been rather effective at implementing it. He could see this being a necessary way of thinking and eventually the Okoya were allowed to submit, much to the Tojo's expense. To submit was a much more agreeable arrangement for the defeated.

Hiroto Haruki was a warrior at heart and had been known throughout most of the lands as a formidable opponent. The battle against him was among the more difficult of individual fights that Naruto had endured in his time, an all-around fighter who relied on no clan jutsu or kekkai genkai. The man was currently one-armed, as a result of their confrontation, and was only alive due to the fact that, in the face of his defeat, he bowed in subservience. Naruto approved of the gesture, and figured he could find some good use for the veteran. As it turns out, the man was quite good at rallying and training other ninja. It was always important to try to balance sending a message with ensuring he got the best from his shinobi.

Shinzen Ryu was a mystery in-and-of himself. There were no records that he was ever born, ever raised, ever attended school. In fact, this man managed to somehow sneak past all of Naruto's security forces in order to approach him directly and ask for a chance to demonstrate his skills. Naturally, Naruto had been prepared to kill him, figuring him to be some sort of assassin, but allowed the man a chance. He proved himself to be among the stealthiest ninja Naruto had ever seen and had a knack for getting intel like no other. Of the four men sitting in front of him, the only one with questionable loyalty was Shinzen. From all their interaction so far, Naruto was not sure what exactly made the strange man tick. All he knew was that Shinzen was the best choice to lead the intelligence division. Besides, the man never exactly showed signs of disloyalty or subordination and continued to excel, even if Naruto was sure the man was using some sort of alias. Maybe one day he would confront the man about his identity, but in a way, it almost seemed better to not know so long as the man was producing quality results.

"Hideki."

"Shikage-sama, the supplies are being gathered as you commanded. We expect no significant delays."

"Hiroto."

"All active-duty ninja and able-bodied reservists have received your instructions. They will be ready to execute your commands at any time."

"Shinzen."

"It seems Konoha has kept all information to themselves, with the possible exception of Suna. The Kazegage is a very confidential individual and wouldn't let anything of this sort get out far."

Naruto took a moment to digest everything told to him. Everything was going according to plan thus far, though that could change in an instant. "Very well. With the preparatory stages underway, it is obvious to me that you should know what we are preparing for. While I am sure that you have all figured it out and made your guesses, allow me to clear your thoughts. We are working toward the absorption of the Elemental Nations. Though this task will undoubtedly test the limits of all our abilities, I believe it is necessary at this point. They will soon be too curious, seek too much interaction, and will become too dangerous."

There was not a hint of surprise on any of the faces, and Naruto almost smiled. It seemed they were all capable of working out the extent of his ambitions beforehand.

"I have already developed a strategy for the initial stages of the campaign. Kenchi, you will stay behind to learn of my plans. The rest of you are to continue carrying out your orders until further notice."

"Hai, Shikage-sama" was said by all four of them, and all except for Kenchi bowed as they got out of their seats to make a swift exit from the room.

"Shikage-sama, if I may inquire, what exactly could your plan be for defeating the Five Great Shinobi nations? Do you think you'll be able to assure victory?"

"Assure victory? Absolutely not. We'll be outnumbered, outsupplied, against a diverse set of shinobi with an extremely wide range of skill sets with a large pool of minds to contribute to strategies." Naruto smiled, the light in his eyes causing Kenchi to grow a bit unsettled. Something so out of place from the words spoken. "But that's the fun, isn't it?"

* * *

A/N: Edited chapter to increase legibility and amount of details. No substantial changes to story. As always, thank you for reading. Please feel free to follow, favorite, leave a review, or just continue reading.


	7. Enter: Jiraiya, Gallant Toad Sage!

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 5: Uncivil Reunion

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; it is owned by Masashi Kishimoto

On the outskirts of Kamigakure a large grid of tents and training facilities stretched across the cleared grounds. Thousands of occupants feverishly labored, moving crates, unloading wagons, forging necessary armaments, or, as many were doing, undergoing a large group training session focused around imprinting an instinctive knowledge of new tactics previously not a part of their individualized clan systems. In a large environment with so much activity, nobody took particular notice of a single toad traveling between tents. Especially since that toad was doing everything within its power to be both stealthy and nonchalant.

Eventually the toad found its way into a somewhat larger tent towards the rear of the compound, consisting mainly of a large bed with several above-average sized desks spread out. The coast seemed clear inside the tent with most of the immediate area seeming to have a low amount of foot traffic. Quickly emerging from the toad, his white spiky hair only slightly slime-covered, was the large form of the Toad Sage Jiraiya. Not knowing how long he would have to canvas the no-doubt temporary lodging, he began looking for valuable information immediately. The goal was simple: find out about the Shikage.

Some month ago he had, on a whim, decided to visit with Tsunade after years of separation. At least, he tried to convince himself that it was voluntary despite the inexplicable feeling that he needed to. After a good knock on the head, possibly deserved, she briefed him on the situation. Part of him supposed that he should really have been paying more attention to things in the area, but in reality, it was hard enough to keep the best spy network in the world running in the Elemental Nations. Somewhat odd that no refugees fleeing the wars or common travelers ever said anything that caught his ear but that was nothing to worry about now.

Tsunade wanted to know who the Shikage was; he could tell in her mannerisms that it was clearly distressing her. The only gentlemanly thing to do was to find out the information for himself and report back to her. Besides, his curiosity about the workings of this new nation were going to warrant a trip or two eventually anyway. Now that he had a mission, he'd just be a bit more covert about it all. He knew very few things about the situation, and this knowledge was not the most useful. He knew that the Shikage's true identity must be some sort of secret but did not know where the secret began. Would some common genin know the truth? Likely not. But would even a common jounin? There was no way to guess. If capture and interrogation was too high risk-low reward, he'd rely on infiltration.

The toad summons that helped him to get this far hopped outside the tent, with an unstated order to croak if any intruder saw fit to enter. This would allow him at least a small window to either hide behind something or escape outside. He hadn't quite decided which he would do, preferring to improvise on the matter. Looking at the desk in front of him, he saw a variety of files, papers, envelopes spread out.

While at first glance it appeared as if he was being awarded a treasure trove of information, it turned out that most of what was presented was useless to him. Sure, there would be some use if he were to steal or copy a series of reports on the training progress of the shinobi, but it would be a waste of valuable time given the larger importance of his current mission. And if he stole it, they would notice and have their guards raised immediately.

Skimming over the pages as quickly as he could to make sure nothing of greater importance was on them, he began to notice something quite disturbing. Several times through the reports, the hidden villages of the elemental nations were mentioned, especially Konoha. It seemed that the shinobi were being trained to fight in a certain way to overcome a certain foe, not simply to become stronger. Additionally, reading into some sections slightly more, he began to see that there was more known about Konoha than the others.

Moving on from those documents, he found a series of more personal letters that helped him very little except in figuring out that the tent was probably occupied by a man known as Hiroto Haruki, for nearly all of the letters were addressed to him. These were almost entirely useless, except in indicating that the man was quite popular given that many of the letters were from different cities. While not exactly groundbreaking, it was something that could add up with other factors to equal something important.

The rest of this particular desk seemed to be nothing of interest to him so he moved on to the next. This one had, on top of it, two stacks of paper. Taking a quick glance of the papers, he noticed that one stack seemed to be incoming messages and the other was outgoing. Part of him became quite worried that a stack of outgoing papers meant that anyone could waltz in at anytime in order to retrieve them or finish with them. Again, he began to skim the documents, hoping these could be of higher importance.

Included in the incoming messages seemed to mostly be reports from various shinobi about the status of training or students. Jiraiya was beginning to judge that this Hiroto fellow played quite a large part in the development of shinobi in this country. Sifting through the outgoing messages, it seemed to be mostly the same. Recommendations responding to letters he assumed were from a previous day about bettering the training of some of the shinobi were the norm. He did, however, find something more interesting at the very bottom of the stack. A letter to the Shikage himself. Unfortunately, it was simply a letter about the overall training of the forces in the area. Apparently it was going 'according to schedule' and Jiraiya was beginning to wonder if this guy did anything else.

Searching the drawers, he found something that seemed like it could be the jackpot. He opened a small scroll and began reading from the top. It seemed to have been dated to about one month ago.

 _General Order 66_

 _This order shall apply henceforth until explicitly canceled._

 _Preparations are to begin as planned for the upcoming operation. I am to be informed, at minimum, weekly of all progress being made. As promised, an increased budget has been allotted toward ensuring the timely completion of all necessary action. Any proposal to significantly alter any aspect of the plans shall be evaluated by myself before enactment. The previously discussed time tables remain in effect, and I fully expect to have them met._

 _Additionally, should patrols encounter further spies, protocol is now total elimination. Following the capture and cooperation of the Konoha-nin it is no longer deemed necessary by myself to risk anything less than the total annihilation of those who would seek to undermine our efforts. As we prepare ourselves for the coming storms, we must remember that we shall be guided not only by myself but also the rightness of our intentions. So long as we trust that our path is the only just course then we shall not falter._

 _Though the very nature of this world shall work against us, we will prevail. We must._

In the bottom right of the scroll, there was a stamp with the Jashinist symbol along with the word 'Shikage.' There seemed to be some sort of pattern with the rest of the ink on the stamp but Jiraiya could discern no obvious meaning to it and assumed that it was mostly to authenticate the scroll in place of a proper signature. It was very strange that the man would not sign with his first or last name as was commonplace in the other elemental nations.

At this point in the venture Jiraiya was sure that he had gathered enough circumstantial evidence to confidently say that the Shikage was planning some kind of large-scale conflict. The problem was that he could not exactly say with whom. Additionally, he found it quite disturbing that the scroll mentioned a captured Konoha-nin being cooperative. Surely a Hyuuga heiress would not actually be divulging information to the enemy? Or was it possible that they had someone else, possibly a captured missing-nin?

It was at that moment Jiraiya heard a croak, and before even he could react the entrance to the tent flew open and several ninja quickly ran in, kunai already drawn. Interestingly, the man in the front was one-armed, his left arm cut to nearly nothing. Immediately, he guessed that someone had finally noticed his chakra was out of place. He had been trying to suppress it as much as possible but clearly his location within the compound allowed him to be more easily singled out.

"So, to what do I owe the honor to have Jiraiya of Konoha in my tent?" the one-armed man said, a steady calm in his voice.

"Ah, so my name is known even in these lands! I should have known that Jiraiya, Gallant Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, would be revered throughout the continent!" He said, a brief amount of surprise flashed across two of the Kami-nin but not across the leader, whom he presumed from what he had read to be Hiroto Haruki. As interesting as it would be to have a nice conversation and shoot the breeze, he had a decent idea that it would not be good for his long-term health. Without a moment's more hesitation, he built up a burst of chakra in his lungs.

"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" As soon as he let loose the attack, he was certain that he saw Hiroto form the seal for an Earth Wall. Distraction in place, the Gallant Sage brandished a kunai and slashed through the nearest wall to the tent, quickly building up speed as he bravely ran away. He could see from the corners of his eyes multiple shinobi immediately reacting to the attack but ignored that as he leapt away from the camp. It was probably less than thirty seconds after initiating the distraction that the Sannin had already cleared the perimeter of the camp and entered the sparse forest on the outside.

Knowing that he was undoubtedly being followed, he formed two shadow clones who immediately appeared beside him and branched off into different directions in hopes of confusing the pursuers. Jiraiya was under no illusion that he was the fastest shinobi in the world; after all, Minato had been much above him in that category as is the current Raikage. In a situation wherein the enemy were confused and the initial shinobi had been delayed, however, he did feel rather confident in himself.

* * *

Elsewhere, a messenger was quickly sent to the Palace of the Shikage in order to inform their leader immediately of the espionage. Ordered by Hiroto himself in a single sentence before the man took off in pursuit, the messenger sprinted as quickly as he could to the main floor. He could see some of the workers look at him inquisitively but did not spare them a second glance. It was not until he was ready to burst through the main doors that any sense of reason took over him. Taking a momentary deep breath, he calmly opened the doors and walked into the large main office.

When he locked eyes with his leader, a look of mild confusion with just the slightest hint of irritation met him. Having come from a clan that had submitted of their own will towards the end of the Unification, he had never before seen the face of the Shikage in person. He had only heard stories of the immense presence that the man carried, never truly understanding exactly what that meant. As he looked into eyes of steeled blue, staring into him with a terrifying casualness, it did not take him more than a second to drop to one knee.

"Shikage-sama" he said, head bowed. He looked back up to see the man standing from his seat, approaching him. His heart skipped a beat, and after his hasty rush here he felt himself sweating for the first time. Just being in the same room as his leader filled him with a sense of nerves, a reaction he could not understand on a logical level. Surely there was no reason to feel this way if he was simply bringing news? He saw the man's feet stand in place a meter in front of him.

"What is it?" The voice was strong, perhaps a bit stringent even.

"We encountered a spy, in the main camp outside of the city. I believe Hiroto referred to him as Jiraiya of the Sannin. He e-escaped. At least for the moment." His voice cracked, and for a split moment, the embarrassment surged through him. He had long been one of the top prospects among his clan, trained from a young age in everything they could offer. He had worked hard from his earliest days and, during the Unification Wars, had sought to prove himself. When his clan surrendered peacefully, he had been a critic against it. Afterwards, however, he enrolled himself in the army of his new leader seeking to prove himself. Having fought in several of the major battles which would end the Unification, he was taken on as a pupil of Hiroto Haruki himself. And yet, in this moment of meeting the Shikage, it all felt like nothing. He felt insignificant in the eyes of the man of whom soldiers told countless stories, among which few knew how many were real or exaggerated.

"Interesting. How long ago was this?"

"Five minutes."

"And in which direction did he flee?"

"North."

"You have done well to get the information to me this quickly, Daisuke. You are dismissed." He could feel his eyes widen at his own surprise and looked up only to see Shikage-sama had already turned back around and seemed to be collecting a few items. To hear Shikage-sama address him by name and give him praise was completely unexpected, and it filled him with a new loyalty. Suddenly he felt like if he were ordered to personally conquer the Eastern Nations by himself, not only would he try; he would succeed.

* * *

Jiraiya continued to run. At this point, he had not seen any sign of pursuers for approximately thirty minutes, and it had been an hour since he began to flee. Both of his shadow clones had been dispersed a while back, having not had the chakra necessary to maintain the pace necessary to escape as he had. Still, they seemed to have served a good distraction. He slowed down a bit, allowing himself to think about the occurrences of the day.

It was very unfortunate that he had been caught earlier. It meant not only would he likely not be able to return anywhere near Kamigakure without having the risks be much too high, but they would be on the lookout in other regions as well. In all likelihood he would have to lay low for at least a week before searching for an alternate location to look for clues. He almost groaned at how boring it all sounded; maybe he should have found a way to fight a few of the Kami-nin, just for a workout. Maybe he could ambush a patrol and interrogate them.

It was only by years of combat experience that, amid the natural sounds of the land around him, he could make out a faint and unnatural sound. Quickly, he dodged to the right and turned to face his sudden adversary only to see nothing except a kunai in the branch of the tree he was about to jump to. Analyzing his surroundings, he saw that it was the same as most of this part of the country seemed to be: sparse forests, with sporadic clearings. He was about to continue running, thinking of a possible distraction, when he heard it again, somehow from behind him. Dodging to the left, a kunai struck the dirt seconds later.

Jiraiya had to find some way to confront his assailant, but, having no ability to sense chakra outside of Sage Mode, knew his options were limited. Thinking quickly, he put his hands to the ground for one of his most signature jutsu. The ground for a large area around him began turning to swamp, trees sinking into it. He was listening all around him, when he heard the sound of someone landing on a tree branch nearby. Leaping in that direction, he finally saw something. A man in mostly black clothes, who seemed to have a mask on. He charged at the figure, but for some reason, the man did not respond in any way. Jiraiya, deciding not to risk a trap, threw a kunai. The man did nothing, but when the kunai hit, he vanished in a puff of smoke.

The Toad Sage was extremely surprised by this. There were very few people, as far as he was aware, who knew of the shadow clone jutsu. The jutsu had been deemed forbidden in Konoha by the Second Hokage. It was, however, somewhat more of a quasi-forbidden jutsu, passed down from trusted elder ninja only to certain students with little repercussion. The Second had taught the Third, and the Third had taught him. He knew, however, that many Konoha Jounin with larger chakra reserves such as Kakashi Hatake were allowed to learn the technique. Apparently one of Konoha's secrets had gotten out.

Suddenly there were five more opponents in front of him, just standing in the clearing. Getting a good look at the mask, he was suddenly reminded very much of the report Tsunade had given him to read about a trip to Nishi. The mask was white and ornately decorated, seeming to have microscopic depictions of some sort of conflict on it and standing out in stark contrast to the man's black clothes. It occurred to Jiraiya that, in all likelihood, he was facing the Shikage himself. By any stretch of the imagination this could not be good.

The enemy-nin charged him at an extremely high speed, Jiraiya barely able to back away before their strikes landed. He attempted to land a quick jab, hoping to disperse the clones and reveal their creator. This was unsuccessful as the strike was blocked by the targeted clone and the others immediately resumed the offensive. Attempting to dodge some while blocking others, he was unable to do anything about a punch that landed in his midsection. While not exactly on the level of Tsunade, it was definitely a solid strike with some force behind it. Kind of like Minato, actually. Jiraiya hoped to whatever gods there were that he was not fighting a Minato-level opponent.

The assault continued, Jiraiya having a hard time getting reprieve from his opponents. He continued to back away while blocking and dodging, moving at full speed yet not able to create much separation. Instead of having the advantage in speed, it seemed they were on equal footing. And yet, for some reason, he had the distinct feeling that they were holding back. No, holding back was not quite right; they were just not going all out.

The five identical shinobi suddenly stopped, and Jiraiya allowed himself a moment to breathe. Now that he had a second, he was pretty sure he had been hit one or two more times. His left arm felt like it had taken a rather stout punch. This was ridiculous. He needed to be able to do something to change the tide of the fight but it was difficult to think clearly. Needless to say, he was tremendously surprised when all of the clones suddenly dispelled.

"Feeling brave enough to fight me yourself? "Jiraiya said, not seeing anyone but having the feeling that someone would be listening. Maybe if he could appeal to some sense of honor then it could at least be a one-on-one fight, and he might even be able to concoct an escape plan if he was careful enough. That's when he heard someone land to his left and turned to see the man whom had created the clones standing mere feet away.

"I wanted to watch you dance." the man said, his voice calm and even. He was standing straight though clearly not entirely relaxed. Jiraiya felt the slightest bit uncomfortable that someone would have the gall to attempt to toy with him.

"So, you believe you're stronger than Jiraiya, Gallant Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku? That I could be so easy a foe?" A little bit of bravado never hurt, in his opinion. Besides, the longer he could get the guy to talk, the longer he could try to escape. Right now, he was thinking of summoning Gamabunta to distract him while making a getaway.

"Your growth halted a long-time ago. I have been exposed to the flames of war, the great furnace from which a true shinobi is forged. I have trained to the fullest of my capabilities whereas you have been inactive. Every day I have gotten stronger and will continue to do so. Under normal circumstances I do not believe you could offer much of a challenge. Luckily for you, I have never fought a Sage and would relish the experience."

Jiraiya felt a bit of his ire rise up at being so easily dismissed, though he was quite intrigued that the person seemed intent on letting him enter Sage Mode. If he could get that accomplished, then maybe he'd be able to defeat the Shikage and prevent further war.

"It takes me a while to enter Sage Mode. How do I know I can trust you?" To Jiraiya's great surprise, the Shikage raised both his hands toward his mask and seemed to unhook some hidden connectors. Was this it? Was he finally about to figure out once and for all the identity of the Shikage himself? After his infiltration and subsequent chase, it felt a bit anticlimactic to simply have it handed to him but who was he to complain? His hood fell down, revealing a low-cut head of blonde hair. That was very interesting for blonde, especially such a bright blonde, was quite uncommon throughout the elemental nations. Hell, the last time he had seen such a brightly colored blonde guy was… oh no. Jiraiya felt his chest tighten and his breaths became somewhat labored. No, it couldn't be. It was impossible, wasn't it? Then again, the timelines seemed to add up.

The man took his mask off, his blue eyes staring deeply into Jiraiya's without a flinch of hesitancy. As soon as Jiraiya saw the face, it felt like a part of him was crushed. It seemed so outside the realm of possibility, and yet, here it was.

"You can trust me, sensei. I promise." He had a slight smirk on his face, and Jiraiya felt suddenly sick.

A/N: Surprise! An update! I do apologize for the long delay. If you want an explanation, here it is: basically, I like to keep myself three chapters ahead when I update. When I originally wrote this chapter, however, and the future ones, I did not feel satisfied. I felt that I had a very unclear vision of the Naruto that I truly wanted to create and of the story I wanted to tell. I did not want to post these chapters because they felt inadequate. Unfortunately, for months I just could not find an inspiration that I found suitable.

I was about to publish a new story (already 5 chapters written into it) and put this one into a hiatus when, about two weeks ago, I found myself desperately wanting to work on this again. I had some inspiration and, suddenly, I really started to feel like my story was forming in the way that I wanted. Personally, I am quite happy with this chapter and looking forward to any feedback. To all the readers who followed or favorited this story, I thank you for your patience. To all new readers of the story, I hope you've enjoyed it thus far. I cannot promise frequent updates in the future, I'm afraid, but I'm hopeful it will be more frequent than this.

As an aside, I do like to casually make references to random things in my stories but not in any way that I feel would detract from the story's immersion or readability. If you see something that you feel is a reference to cinematic culture, then it probably is. Additionally, I read every review so if you ask a question in a review, I will probably read it. Almost every time, however, it is a question that I prefer to let the story itself answer in its own time as opposed to PM'ing someone an answer. So just keep that in mind. On a final note, no matter how many times I reread something there's always a few grammatical errors in the end. For the most part, they are slight, but man it is so annoying when I read a chapter twenty times over the course of five days to make sure it's right then publish it and immediately find like ten errors. Just saying.

Please feel free to follow, favorite, review, or continuing to read. All reviews, favorites, and even views are greatly appreciated, and I hope you've enjoyed the update.


	8. Dueling Destinies

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 6: Dueling Destinies

Jiraiya could not describe how he felt about seeing that Naruto Uzumaki was, in fact, the Shikage. The man whom had united the western nations and seemed intent on starting a war in the Elemental Nations was none other than his latest student. At least, with Orochimaru, he had not been the sensei; it was easy to say afterwards that the snake-nin should never have gotten as far as he did with support from a sensei. Naruto, however, was different; he had looked Naruto in the eye on thousands of occasions and determined to keep on training. He had seen the anger and frustration inside the kid, all the pain he wanted to keep to himself, yet had continued to push forward. This was his fault, and it was up to him to take responsibility for it all and end it here.

And yet, as Jiraiya tried to mentally prepare himself for the fight ahead, he found himself falling short. He should take responsibility; in fact, he should have taken responsibility over two decades ago. When Minato and Kushina died, he should have taken care of his godson, the last bit of family he had left in the entire world. Instead, he hid himself away from his duties like a coward and now it seemed like it would all come back to haunt him.

"N-Naruto? I guess I always knew deep inside you'd never be some random farmer in the Land of Rice but this is ridiculous. Shikage? Kamigakure? All this because you hate Konoha? Doesn't that seem a bit much?" He was trying his best to wrap his head around everything but a part of his world had just been completely twisted so maybe that was to be expected. Maybe if he could just get Naruto to talk, he could understand.

"It's not only about Konoha anymore. A long time ago, Jashin told me everything I needed to know. About the politics, Uchiha Massacre, and their disgrace of my father's last words. It used to be about them, until I came here and led the Wars of Unification. As I'm sure you know, Jiraiya, war has a way of changing things. Sensei, you used to preach about peace and how important it is. Tell me, are you satisfied with the current state of the elemental nations? The peace that resides there?" There was something so fundamentally different about the Naruto he found himself facing now than the kid he remembered. His eyes were not clouded with confusion and anger, they seemed to be clear with a certain resolve. As if he was determined in his path.

"I believe that the current peace is the beginning of a longer era. By continuing to avert the threat of war it will eventually become the unpopular option. Temporary resolutions, like the Hyuuga crisis with Kumo, will lead to permanent solutions." Here he was, the Gallant Toad Sage of Mt. Myoboku, facing off against the feared Shikage of the Western Nations, and they were discussing politics. How surreal that would seem to any outsider.

"You are so naive for such an experienced shinobi. The Hyuuga crisis resolution was but a bandage on a greater problem: Kumo hates Konoha and always will. In any situation where Konoha were to suffer a catastrophic loss of military power, Kumo would declare war within a month. Suna's competing constantly for trade partners and income and would do anything to assert themselves, such as follow a plan to invade Konoha. Every shinobi nation competes with each other for power, influence, prestige,

honor. That is why your solution would never work."

"Huh, so what, am I supposed to take the word of a guy who worships Jashin? A supposed god who demands nothing but murder, war, and bloodshed? If there is peace in this world I will do all that I can to make sure it can be found."

"You should not pretend to know the wishes of Jashin-sama. If your path were the one to peace then surely it would have already been found. It is what seems to be the easiest way, and yet, it continually fails because it relies on everyone else, it has no central figure who can hold it together. I will bring about the end of the traditional shinobi nations and, in doing so, shall appease Jashin-sama's call for war as well as bringing about the manifestation of my will."

"And why are you telling your old sensei this anyway?" Jiraiya could tell at this point that there could be no true reasoning with his estranged student. Sure, he could go on and on about how Naruto's plan for peace would only result in endless rebellion and tireless struggle, but in the end it was all pointless. Either he would end this betrayal immediately on this day, or Naruto's endless ambition would consume him and lead him to his ultimate defeat just as it had with Orochimaru.

"I have thought about it a fair bit but I guess I wanted to say it out loud. Make sure I wasn't insane and all that." Naruto was smirking at him again, and Jiraiya was at least slightly impressed that his student seemed to have at least some sense of humor still. Either that, or a very deep acceptance of his possibly deranged mental state. "Anyway, I suggest you get started on Sage Mode. It's the only way this will be an entertaining fight."

"I'm pretty sure I could take you on now, but perhaps I'll use the extra bit of help to teach you a lesson." If those clones were any decent indication, Jiraiya was entirely certain he was completely wrong. There would never come a day, however, when he would allow a student of his to talk to him like that without boasting. Without anymore hesitation, he bit his thumb to allow a bit of blood to flow.

"Summoning Jutsu!" A cloud of smoke appeared and the two elder sage toads Fukasaku and Shima appeared suddenly on the ground in front of him. He could see Naruto was looking at him with a questioning eye and figured that the kid did not expect him to need help to enter Sage Mode. He was really starting to look forward to beating him around a bit, maybe teach him a little about respect. At this point he was expecting a fight like he had not had in many years, and even if he knew how incredibly dangerous it could be, there was always that shinobi instinct that was excited.

"Jiraiya-boy, why did you summon us here? If you wanted some of my cooking you should have come to us." The man's face turned a sick shade of green for a brief moment before regaining some composure.

"No thanks Ma. Actually, this guy in front of me here is challenging me to a fight and wants me to use Sage Mode. Think you and Pa can help me out?"

"Oh really? This guy thinks he's a match for the sage arts? Who is he anyway?"

"Hmm… ya know Pa, maybe it's just my eyes, but he looks a lot like Jiraiya-boy's old student. What was his name? Nemato?"

"Oh yeah, Minato. I remember him. What a sweet kid he was. Always so respectful."

"Hey, look you two. I need you to focus. This is Minato's son, and he's turned into a bad seed. So, will you help me out?" The two elders nodded before hopping onto his shoulders and fusing with him there. He always hated this part of his Sage Mode transformation, second only to the part where his face got warty and nose got enlarged. He began to feel the first trickles of nature chakra enter his system. "Ya know, all this reminds me. When you broke the toad contract, which other contract did you take anyway?"

"Nothing of importance. If you use the toad sage's ability to gather nature chakra instead of your own, will you not be diluting the chakra?"

"Yeah, but it allows for a constant generation." Jiraiya found himself answering his student's question before he even processed what he was saying. For a brief moment, seeing an inquisitive look on his student's face made everything feel like it used to be. Additionally, the rather informed nature of the question intrigued him and made him wonder if his enemy had perhaps forayed into the basics of senjutsu. It did make him wonder just how good of a student Naruto could have been if he had not runaway. At least he did not allow himself to say he could not get into sage mode on his own, or it could have been detrimental to his efforts.

"Hmmm… and possibly collaboration jutsu as well. How unexpected." Jiraiya allowed himself a smile. Even after all these years, and even after all the combat experience his opponent had undoubtedly accumulated up to this point, he could still surprise his student. How did it ever come to this point? If that village had only obeyed Minato, he'd still have his godson to train and teach; to watch mature. Instead they were about to fight. How much more could the world take away from him? Feeling the sage chakra continue to flow through him helped to calm him a bit; he had to keep a mostly even temperament for Sage Mode to fully work.

After a few minutes of continual build up, he could feel the chakra had grown to a large enough level. He knew that, at this point, his face had been disfigured with warts and a grotesque nose. Thankfully, only one other person would be around to see him like this. Feeling the strength in him, he knew that it was finally time for this battle to start. With no prior warning, he leaped at his former student and attempted to hit him with a body jab. Naruto, however, had the reaction time to jump backwards and avoid it. Jiraiya could only smile as his opponent went rocketing backward into the trees.

* * *

Naruto caught his balance amid a few trees, after going backwards some thirty meters. He was sure that he had dodged the swift surprise attack and had been ready to deliver a counterattack of his own when he felt an extremely strong punch to his midsection which took him by surprise. He scowled at himself, unhappy at having been so surprised in the heat of battle, but at least he now knew that, in Sage Mode, Jiraiya did not need to land a strike in order to hit him.

Without much time to recover at all the Sage was again upon him. Undoubtedly the Senjutsu was giving him a boost in speed. As the flurry of punches and kicks began, he gave a wider berth to his dodges to avoid further hits. Jiraiya was proving nothing if not persistent, however, and maintained a high pace. He was taking a few minor hits on some of the dodges but it seemed like the attack lost strength the further away it was from the limb. Naruto blocked a strike but decided that was not in his long-term interest when he felt the force behind it. He saw the two elder toads exchange a quick glance and, feeling worried, jumped far backwards.

"Toad Style: Toad Oil Flow!" the male elder began, spewing forth a dark, viscous liquid just as Naruto landed on the ground.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" the female elder followed up, creating a strong gust of wind that picked up the toad oil. Naruto had a feeling he knew what was next so hastily created two shadow clones.

"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" Jiraiya ended.

Naruto had expected some collaboration jutsu between the three of them, but had not necessarily expected a trio collaboration. That had clearly been a mistake. Now there was a flaming wave coming at him extremely quickly, burning up entire trees in an instant and leaving nothing in its wake.

"Water Style: River Flood!" one of his clones shouted, a heavy stream of water erupting from his hands and meeting the flame head on at the midway point. It created a gigantic burst of steam, reducing visibility to near zero between combatants. Although the clone had not succeeded in stopping the powerful attack, it had succeeded in weakening it. The first clone dispelled.

The second clone readied a defense of its own. "Water Style: Water Wall!" A tall, thick wall of water appeared in front of them ready to fight back the brunt of the combination attack. Naruto did not wait to see if it would hold because he knew it would not.

"Earth Style: Dome of Protection!" He surrounded himself in a wide dome of hardened rock, strengthening it with extra chakra so as to prevent the jutsu from cracking the exterior. Moments later the attack collided with the water wall, the audible hiss created a clear indicator. It may have been possible to have used a similarly styled water jutsu to protect himself with enough chakra, but the earth wall seemed the most efficient option. He was not much of an earth-style user but the defensive capabilities of the nature were often invaluable. The attack made contact with the dome, the very air inside heating up because of it. And yet, the dome held firm, akin to a strong rock amid a roaring wave. It took maybe a half minute for the entirety of the attack to pass, a true testament to the power and chakra poured into it.

Allowing the dome to crumble around him, Naruto took a look at his surroundings. The entirety of the ground was scorched, save for where he created a dome, for about ten meters to his left, right, and rear. The forty odd meters he had between himself and Jiraiya had been utterly ruined as well. The trees were nothing more than burned ashes, with only a few having been lucky enough to maintain even the tiniest of stumps. He could see Jiraiya's form in the distance, who had apparently been waiting to see the aftermath.

As interesting as everything had been thus far, he always hated being on the defensive. Constantly reacting to the enemy increased the chances you would make a mistake and was simply less interesting. Jiraiya had surprised him up to this point but now it was time to go on the offensive. He created nine clones and charged.

* * *

Jiraiya was impressed with the reaction time of his old student. Not only had Naruto managed to mostly avoid the reach of his Kumite with quick dodges and subtle counter-strikes, he had also managed to use shadow clones to perform three jutsu within the length of time it took for the combination jutsu to reach him. The attack combining toad oil, fire, and wind was the strongest combination jutsu he used, and it seemed to have no effect on his opponent. It was such an odd mix of pride and disappointment he was feeling as a response. Pride in his student, disappointment that such an attack would fail. He had poured a lot more chakra than is standard for such a jutsu, and he was sure that Ma and Pa had done the same. While it took very little out of him in total, it likely represented a much larger portion of their supply.

Seeing Naruto create nine clones almost made him groan out loud from remembering his other experience with the clones today. And this time there would be more of them. They did not seem intent on wasting time as they charged immediately. He prepared himself for a defense, the sage chakra in him making it easy to distinguish between the real Naruto and the clones. He needed to think of some sort of way to take advantage of this knowledge, especially since Naruto likely did not know he could sense him.

The punches and kicks from the ten Narutos were a dazzling blur of hits from every direction. He did his best to keep moving backwards to keep himself from getting surrounded, trying to block and dodge every possible hit. Even while doing everything in his power to minimize the damage, he was taking a fair number of strong strikes everywhere except for the head. Luckily, the senjutsu flowing through him helped to ebb the pain and would get started healing the areas immediately. Unfortunately, it could only do so much when the hits kept coming.

He hadn't seen it until the last second and was incapable of doing anything to prevent a powerful kick directly into his chest that knocked him back about two meters. He could feel at this point that Ma and Pa were concentrating on generating Sage Chakra to replace the chakra being used to heal. Something had to be done to change the tide of the confrontation; it was painfully obvious at this point that he could not keep up this kind of fight forever. Identifying the real Naruto amid the charging onslaught, he made up his mind on a plan of attack and charged forward.

If the group was surprised at his sudden change of strategy they did not show it. Jiraiya kept his eyes on the target, narrowly avoiding a few kicks and punches while taking a few others but refusing to slow down. Nearly face to face he reared his right arm back while using the left to attempt to grab his student. "Rasengan!" he said, a blue orb appearing in his hand, a bit larger than usual due to an influx of extra chakra. He slammed the orb into the chest of his opponent, who made an audible groan from being hit with such an attack. And disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Before Jiraiya could even process exactly what happened he felt himself unable to move. Somehow, there was now a clone holding on to each of his limbs. And they were holding him extremely firmly. He looked over, sensing the real Naruto and not seeing any Rasengan-based damage upon him. Apparently he had used a substitution jutsu mere moments before the attack landed, replacing himself with a clone. The true Naruto began charging at him, and Jiraiya hastily attempted to figure out some way of escape.

"Massive Rasengan!" he heard his opponent yell, raising one hand into the air upon which a gigantic blue orb appeared. Desperately struggling, attempting to utilize as much Sage Chakra as possible to throw off one of the clones, it appeared to be all for nothing as his attacker approached. He felt his body go limp when he realized it was impossible to avoid. The blue orb made contact with his right shoulder and his entire world exploded into pain.

A few seconds later, Jiraiya found himself laying on the ground, having been thrown meters away by the powerful attack. A large part of him was surprised to be still alive, but he supposed that was the power of sage chakra. Judging from the way he was lying in a pool of his blood and could actually feel the chakra being drained from him at an extraordinary rate, however, that may not last for long. How ironic; brought to this state by the jutsu his student created and taught to him which he then taught to his next student who was the son of his prior student. He could see Ma and Pa still on his shoulders, both looking pretty beat up just from being exposed to the attack.

Thinking quickly, he knew of only one jutsu that could afford him any relief. Unfortunately, when he started it he not only realized he could not feel his right arm, he no longer had a right arm. Luckily he could do this one-handed. "Summoning Jutsu." he said weakly, feeling his strength continue to leave him and only hastening as the chakra used in the jutsu left him. Moments later, he found himself in the large protective stomach of a mountain toad, summoned to the field and engulfing the three of them, keeping them safe from the outside at least momentarily.

"Ma, Pa, go home. Rest, relax." He coughed a bit, finding a tiny amount of blood had come out. "Find another toad summoner." The two figures detached themselves from his shoulder, and he could feel the flow of sage chakra entering him stop, and the supply within him running very low from attempting to deal with his injuries.

"Are you sure Jiraiya-boy? We could take you with us. Heal you." He could see that the elder was himself in a decent amount of pain from the fight.

"No. I think… I think my time is done. If-if the prophecy is true, then, it shall be him. It will be Naruto. I'm sure of it." He could see the eyes of the two sages widen, and saw them prepare to leave when suddenly a revelation hit him. "Don't tell them… who did this to me. I-it was the Shikage, wearing a mask." They looked at him as if he were completely crazy, and a part of him began to wonder if he was. "Please," he said, and they reluctantly nodded before dismissing themselves back to Mount Myoboku.

A thousand thoughts per minute rushed through his head, and he wondered if this was common at the end of someone's life. He could only imagine what must have gone through Minato's mind, or Kushina's, as they left their life of their son in the hands of a village who would do nothing but scorn and reject him. Left him to a godfather who would ignore him for over a decade. Yes, they must have had some faith in the shinobi world in their final moments. Jiraiya, however, had his doubts.

Naruto had to be the child of prophecy; there was no other alternative. He was the last student standing, all the others had died. He would bring about a revolution to the shinobi world, and it had been up to him to make sure that it would be for the better. At first, he could see no possible way that Naruto could do anything but ruin the world, but maybe the blood loss helped him to think in less conventional ways. If Naruto were to attack the Elemental Nations then it was possible that they would all unite to defeat him, setting aside their differences to defeat a common foe and discovering that they were not truly all that different. Or, it was possible he would succeed and, when a revolution arose and defeated him, they would be tired of war and create a new system that would sustain a long term peace.

Maybe, even if Naruto somehow succeeded in his plan, it would not actually be that bad. The shinobi villages were corrupt at their core, the very nature of their continued existence an obstacle to a world of peace. So long as shinobi relied on Daimyo, they would be used as a weapon with little concern for consequences. Every piece of information he had referred to Naruto as leader of the entire nation, not just a ninja village. There was no Daimyo in Nishi, supreme power rested in Naruto and Naruto alone. It would be interesting to see what happens if his student succeeds; how would he manage so much land, so much power, when even the Hokage's job was too heavy a burden for most to bear? Additionally, maybe people like Danzo would be prevented from having access to power and continuing to rot the villages from the inside. Yes, maybe Naruto would provide the cleansing of corruption so necessary for the shinobi world.

If Naruto was about to start a war, maybe it could be the war to end all wars. Or, perhaps, the blood loss was making him a bit delusional. That was certainly a possibility. Was it too much to put his final hopes into his estranged student? Too much to hope that Naruto was not simply some crazed Jashin cultist but instead a well-rounded leader? Not just some sociopathic megalomaniac? Yes, it probably was, but he always did like an underdog.

Seemingly in the distance he heard a buzzing sound, sounding much like a roaring wind, and he assumed that Naruto was going to attempt to destroy the toad surrounding him. While normally he would think this was impossible, it was like he could hear the power coming from some kind of jutsu. How wonderful, it seemed like his student was capable of even more powerful attacks than the one that had taken care of him. He really had allowed himself to stagnate a long time ago, hadn't he? That's when a wild thought occurred to him. He brought forth more of his increasingly lowered amount of chakra.

"Summoning Jutsu" he whispered, bringing forth a messenger toad. As he finished inscribing his message, a huge explosion of chakra occurred just outside. Both the summoned messenger toad and the summoned mountain toad dispelled, one to deliver a final message and one to recover back at Mount Myoboku. At this point his vision was incredibly blurry and he was feeling unbearably weak. No wonder Orochimaru wanted to be immortal; dying was a pretty bad deal. He looked up to see his godson's face one last time, and from what he could tell, it was entirely blank. At least his student wouldn't smile when he killed him.

He found himself closing his eyes and completely relaxing, against all odds finding himself smiling. Was it wrong, in his final moments, to find himself proud of his student? It was certainly a feeling hard to justify. Naruto had started numerous wars, caused many deaths, seemed to use a strong force of suppression to maintain his status and had an ambition to conquer perhaps the entire shinobi world in an attempt to bend it to his will. Despite everything, however, that underlying pride in the strength and ambition of his student, his godson, his family pulled through at the very end.

* * *

Tsunade let loose with a stream of tears from her eyes, truly letting herself and all her bundled up pain out for the first time in years. How unfair could everything possibly be? Did the world have some sort of grudge against her? Dan, Nawaki, Orochimaru, Hiruzen, Naruto, and now even Jiraiya. Why was everything taken away from her, time after time? No matter how hard she tried to make things right, it just continued to work against her.

The bawling Hokage was truly a demoralizing sight, at least to the ANBU hidden in the room who were, by orders, to prevent anyone else from witnessing the breakdown. She simply couldn't help it; she had bundled it up for so long, hoping for something to happen that would restore her faith and will the way that Naruto once had. Instead, this happened. The floodgates were opened, completely unable to stop themselves. She had told Jiraiya, knowing full well what he was going to try to do, to be very careful. He had promised he would do as necessary. And yet, here they were.

She could barely feel Shizune's arms around her, did not even hear her soothing voice talking to her as she looked once more at the inscription upon the toad, the last statement of her final teammate and perhaps final friend.

"Sorry."

* * *

A/N: Yes, it's another update! It's hard to explain how much I appreciate every view, favorite, follow, and review. Really, it is. Although maybe if I could, it would make me a better writer. Anyway, I sincerely hope that you have all enjoyed this chapter. This is the first fight scene I have ever uploaded (not counting the Akira one because that one was intentionally underwhelming), though I have written probably twenty or so in total if you count re-writes and unpublished stories. I'm not sure if I truly did the fight between Naruto and Jiraiya justice, but I have a hard time explaining each individual punch and kick so wanted to leave that kind of abstract. Jiraiya's one of my favorite characters in canon, and I love fanfiction focusing on him and Naruto in a more detailed way.

In terms of jutsu names, for the most part, it's surprisingly difficult to find an official source of every canon jutsu used (especially one where you don't have to individually click on each jutsu for a brief description). For this reason, I will mostly be winging the jutsu names but will be sure to describe each one so that you have a decent idea of what it does. I do know a decent amount of jutsu from the anime, and will use those when appropriate, but otherwise it will mostly be original names.

I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Unfortunately, as I said last chapter, I cannot promise speedy updates such as this all the time. As always, please feel free to favorite, follow, review, or continue reading. Thank you for reading.


	9. Shikage Legends

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 7: Shikage Legends

The Blunted Kunai was the premier shinobi bar in the ever-growing ninja village of Kamigakure. Even though it was intended for the common shinobi, it was still a rather new building so even those of higher ranks could be found inside on occasion. There were, of course, civilian bars of both higher and lower class, but the Kunai had the distinction of being a place for shinobi and shinobi alone. It was also staffed entirely by either former shinobi or reserve shinobi, those whom had become unqualified for active duty but could be called upon if they were needed.

Asahi Kazehara would not call himself a frequent patron of the bar. In fact, in the year he had been stationed in or around the city, this was probably only his fourth or fifth time visiting the establishment. There was no particular reason he was in the bar today; he had just had a bit of a desire for alcohol on this night. Maybe it had something to do with the increased training regiment they'd been going through these past months finally catching up to him. It felt like they were never given a break, constantly training.

Taking a seat at the bar, he was most definitely not alone. There were quite a few people sitting in the bar area, with a fair number of people sitting at tables who were perhaps ordering food instead of simply drinks. He heard that the Kunai offered a decent menu but he never got food when he came here; usually he would eat at home beforehand. Well, home was not quite the correct word really; it was more like a living quarters in the city. It was better than the tent barracks that they were offered, but probably not by much when you consider the barracks is free.

Ordering some cheap sake, the bartender was very quick to get it to him. Taking a swig, the liquid fire was quick to calm nerves that he had not even been aware he had. It tasted rather horrible, but that was of little consequence to him; the effect was well worth it. He often wondered how the more expensive stuff tasted; maybe one day he'd save up enough money to spoil himself a little bit. He heard the guy to his right talking. He sounded rather intoxicated.

"Yeah, I'm telling ya. You know, I heard he just appeared one day in the old Itama lands, demanded he be given the entire clan, and they surrendered to him just like that. And that's how that Hideki guy became a general."

"Really, that's not what I heard." He could pick up another voice that he had not been able to before, and it occurred to him that it was because he was eavesdropping. He was tempted to make himself stop, but really, he was a shinobi so surely these guys knew they were not being all too secretive. "I heard that he and Hidan-sama were going to wipe them out to send a message to others, and that the Itama surrendered themselves hoping to escape his wrath."

They were talking about the Shikage? That was interesting. Come to think of it, he did not personally know much at all about his leader. He had met the man once, however, it was quite brief.

"I guess it doesn't really matter. I mean, we both saw what he did at Iwazara Pass. He could have done whatever he wanted with the Itama."

"What happened at Iwazara Pass?" he found himself asking before he could convince himself not to. He had never heard of a battle at Iwazara Pass and found himself quite interested in hearing about it. The guy looked over at him, as if surprised by the question, but the look in his eye said he was quite excited to tell. The other participant in the conversation was looking at him as well.

"Oh man, you never heard of the Slaughter at Iwazara? I'm Tatsuki and this is Kota, by the way. Of the Oda clan."

"Asahi. So, a slaughter? What happened?"

"Well, you see, Izawara Pass is a small path between a mountain range to the Southwest. The Oda clan used to keep mostly to themselves past the range, living in a rather large village funded mostly by mining. Our ninja force was rather average, but in times of war, we made use of mercenaries and missing-nin to help us out. At the time, Shikage-sama was considered nothing more than a common warlord, just another opponent that would need to be outlasted in a defensive war. I think he had brought three clans under his control at that point? Not entirely sure."

"Yeah, three sounds right."

"Thanks Kota. Anyway, we've hired the mercenaries and such to bolster our forces, and we've got shinobi patrolling along the outer edges of what we called our territory. That's when we get word from a detachment that a lot of enemy shinobi have been seen heading towards Izawara Pass. Now, the Pass was sort of like a shortcut directly to the village through the mountains, but it was never considered viable for an enemy to use because it was rather narrow. Now, Kota and I were sent as part of a large force meant to hold the Pass. When we got there, we joined what would become the largest single fighting force Oda had assembled. Apparently, the number of enemy shinobi believed to be in the area continued to grow. Now, that's when the skirmishes start. For three days we're fighting these small skirmishes ahead of the Pass, thinking that we're slowing the enemy down. We're taking more losses than them but it doesn't seem like it's going too badly.

On the end of the third day, we're tending to the injured and preparing our strategies, you know, all that stuff. That's when we hear there's a single enemy approaching our base. Just one guy. We're all confused, nobody really knows what is going on. Now, of course, we know that it's Shikage-sama, but at the time we just thought of him as the Itama Warlord. We were wondering what he was doing. He walks in front of the camp, and by this point, a very large portion of the camp was gathered, ready for anything. Imagine our surprise when he starts to speak. He says 'Your village is going to burn. You have two options: Surrender, and some of you will have the honor of serving me. Or fight, and be killed. There will be no survivors.' And there was something about the way he said it, the absolution and the lack of fear, it sent chills down my spine. Didn't it do it you too?"

"Yeah, I remember I saw some people shaking."

"Right. Here we are, superior position, superior numbers, and this guy makes us afraid. Never felt anything like it; really, it's indescribable. Anyway, we're spending the night trying to laugh it off but a lot of us are pretty freaked out. The next day seems pretty normal, but about halfway into the afternoon, we start seeing smoke rising the distance. We try not to worry about it, staying focused on our situation. The skirmishes are escalating, pitched battles starting to be had on both sides. And the smoke keeps rising. And you know what it is?"

"Our village burning."

"Our village burning! This guy comes running up, out of breath, bringing a message that the Itama are destroying the village! We try not to let it get out, but of course it does, and all anyone has to do to confirm it is look at the column of smoke far in the distance. So, it's fair to say that our shinobi were pretty demoralized. I was feeling it too. And that's when the mercenaries and hired nin started to try to get away. I guess they were afraid that we could not pay them anymore or something, which probably was reasonable. So here we are, trying to figure out some way to turn everything around. The battles are going poorly, the mercenaries are starting to flee, and our village is burning. And that's when a large force shows up behind us, led by Shikage-sama himself!

So here we are, demoralized, flanked, large part of our forces running away. Everything has gone downhill. He walks up to our camp once more, his words from the prior day ringing fresh in most of our minds as we looked at him yet again. That's when it happened: our commander walked in front of him, got down on one knee, and bowed. Bowed his head to an enemy! Next thing I know, there's mass confusion, and Shikage-sama's forces charged. I didn't know what to do anymore, it was like everything I had ever fought for was gone and I had no purpose. That's when I did it: I knelt, exactly as our commander did. The enemy forces completely ignored those of us who did. I listened to the screams and dying breaths of my former comrades, and every part of me wanted to move but it felt like I couldn't.

I saw Shikage-sama walking to all those who knelt, saying something, then walking to the next. As he approached me, I looked him in the eye. His face was expressionless, while I'm sure mine was something more akin to panic. He walked until he was directly in front of me, then looked me straight in the eyes for a few agonizingly long seconds, before saying 'You shall serve me' and, after a few more long seconds, he walked away. Every shinobi that resisted was killed, hence the name slaughter. I still have no idea how he pulled it off, but I guess that would be above my pay grade."

Asahi noticed, for the first time, that there was a bit of a crowd around them, at least ten people and a bartender listening to the tale. Each seemed as entranced as he was to hear more stories of their leader, a man whom had come into their lives and changed so much so quickly. Feeling a bit of liquid courage from the alcohol he had consumed, he decided to speak up for himself.

"I come from the Kazehara clan" he began, and noticed a few people whispering something that he could not quite hear and others looking at him strangely. It really came with the territory of being a Kazehara, though, so he did not think much of it. "When Shikage-sama's forces were poised to attack us, there was a large amount of panic occurring in the higher ranks. I was just some new Chuunin at the time, but being from the main Kazehara family, I was able to get access to information on things as they happened. Our village was scared, but since we were unable to find an ally, we were forced to make a stand on our own.

I doubt I need to tell everything that happened. The short of it is that it went terribly, even with our kekkai genkai. I think some of the stronger shinobi were given special training on how to counter us or something like that. At the time I had no idea, but with the training we've been doing lately, I realize now that it is a strong possibility. Anyway, it seemed like they had orders to attempt to capture as many of us as possible. Once the fighting had ended, they lined all of us captured Kazehara up. Maybe about a hundred or so of us, only the shinobi kekkai genkai users. We were tied up, chakra seals on us, our pride broken.

I was third in line on my side. Shikage-sama was standing in front of the man on my end. He looked him in the eye, forced the man to look him in the eye, and after a few moments, slashed his throat. I heard some gasps, some people started crying. I don't know what was running through my mind at the time; it's all such a blur. He moved to the second man in line, and after maybe half a minute, slit his throat. Then, he walked to me. Stood right in front of me. I looked up into his eyes, not knowing what exactly to expect. It's strange to explain, but suddenly I felt calm. I felt like there was nothing to fear, even as a man I had witnessed kill my clansmen seemed poised to kill me. I closed my eyes, bracing for what I knew was to come yet was not afraid. And that's when he reached behind me and slashed my binds on both my hands and feet.

He said to me 'Rise, Asahi. For all the people who die here today resisting, you are to honor by serving me.' I still do not know how he knew my name, but I felt the strangest sense of pride that I would be able to represent my clan, that we would not be wiped out for our foolish resistance. By the time it was over, we only had twenty of us left, a remnant of the formerly proud fighting force of the Kazehara. I still remember, when I looked at my dead clansmen, wondering why I was spared instead of some of the others. There were men, women stronger than me, weaker than me, smarter than me, all dead, yet I was still alive." Asahi, for some reason, did not feel like describing the loyalty he felt to the Shikage, for allowing him the chance to serve and prosper. It went without saying, at least to him, because it was a loyalty that was hard to describe.

"Shikage-sama's grace is a quality matched only by his wrath." A new voice said, one which he had not even heard whispering among the gathered crowd. He looked at the newcomer, seeing a tall figure in a dark robe. He had a rugged face with a calm expression upon it, which he morphed into a smile. "My apologies if I am interrupting. I heard the end of your story and simply could not help myself. My name is Matsui, and I am a monk from the nearby temple."

"What would a monk be doing in a place like this?" Kota said, voicing the thought that many of them were having.

"I like to come here from time to time to listen to the stories that you shinobi tell. It helps to give a certain point of reference for the work of me and my brothers. We study the divine."

"What is that supposed to mean?" a random voice asked.

"It means that we study the gods and the nature of what it means to be a god. As of now, we have only been able to prove the existence of one god: Jashin-sama. We know this not only because Shikage-sama says it is so, but also because Hidan-sama has been given immortality, a feat impossible for mere jutsu to accomplish. We have all heard the stories of Hidan-sama being able to recover even from a severed head. How could this be possible were it not for power of a deity such as Jashin?"

Jashin was sort of a mystery to Asahi. He knew that the symbol of the god was upon their banners and their forehead protectors, but he was not actually sure what the figure really represented. Shikage-sama worshiped Jashin, but he was unsure of the methods by which he worshiped and nobody had ever informed him of how exactly to worship the god.

"So what's that got to do with you coming here?"

"Well, you see, we've been working on a theory. There are certain things about Shikage-sama that nobody is capable of explaining. It seems that a lot of people describe feelings that are hard to explain when being around him, especially when looking into his eyes. The presence he exerts when he enters a room, it feels like more than any pure human would possibly be capable of. We have been told of these things, it repeats across many experiences. That's why we've come up with a theory: Shikage-sama is actually a demigod."

A demigod? Half god, half human? How was such a thing really possible? Asahi was not sure that he believed it for a second, but looking around at the people around him, they did not seem exactly very disbelieving. Most of them looked very interested in finding out more.

"You see, Shikage-sama has often indicated the duality of leadership. Take, for example, the Kazehara clan. Ruthless and efficient in eliminating them as a threat, yet merciful with those he saw both potential and acquiescence in. Because of this, we believe that when he was born a spirit of great darkness entered into him, balanced out by a spirit of great good. Due to the conflicting natures of these inner spirits, he has learned to make use of both of them in equal yet great measure. This is why his wrath can be so terrifying, his mere expression enough to induce fear into experienced shinobi, yet also why his forgiveness feels so complete and filling. He seeks to unite the Western and Eastern nations through war, which seems inherently a dark act, yet it will bring about an era of peace, an act of good. This represents the ultimate balance of his inner spirits and, with balance achieved, he shall transcend into the realm of the gods and earn his immortality."

Now, Asahi was not really sure how to feel about everything. If it were anyone else, he was sure that he would not believe in it for a second. But the monk did make a good point: Jashin was real; Shikage-sama brandished their foreheads with his symbol and Hidan had been granted immortality. If Jashin was real, then could it not be theoretically possible that Shikage-sama was some measure of divinity as well? Surely, if it were anyone else… but no, this was Shikage-sama himself; a man he had personally seen, felt, had a minor experience with. A man whom nearly every shinobi had at least one story relating to, whether of their personal glory serving in his army or of their clan's humiliating defeat at his hands. Maybe, it was possible?

He took another swig of sake. He wasn't sure this was something he wanted to be his concern.

* * *

A/N: Another chapter! This one is really a surprise for all of us. I was looking for a way to really get some more backstory built into the story when I suddenly had the idea for a chapter like this. I found this to be a really interesting way to include more into this story, and wrote all of it within the last three days. I had actually already had three chapters written ahead of this when I settled down and started writing this one, having to go back and forth to make sure it was story complaint. Is this a filler chapter? Possibly, but I hope you all enjoy it anyway.

As always, thank you so much for reading. Please feel free to simply continue reading, follow, favorite, and/or review.


	10. Briefing

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Kishimoto does.

He took a deep breath as he stared once more at the map. There it was, the Elemental Nations lying before him waiting to be within his grasp, practically asking for it. There would be no more delays; there could not be. Konoha had been discouraged for a time but their curiosity would be insatiable soon enough. Everything needed to be put in motion now, and luckily, every part of the plan had been executed properly. His generals executed their roles perfectly, though admittedly, had more help from him than they would likely ever know. The time was now and the day was today.

It was strange; when was the last time he had been nervous? It felt so long ago, when every battle could be the final decisive blow, with campaign after campaign seeking to achieve a grand final victory. Every battle presenting a unique challenge, a unique set of variables that taught new methods of fighting and new understandings of his soldiers' capabilities. An endless array of challenges that needed to be overcome, yet he had done it. It had been so exhilarating, a non-stop adrenaline rush. With the battles won, he had taken up the idea of administration, of leading a people that had become his. That had been more difficult, requiring study and a bit more theory. It seemed to be going well and he could admit to having an interest in the field, but his true passion was for the field of battle, whether on it or leading it. Soon, however, very soon, the thrill of putting the entirety of his mind and skills to use would be upon him once more. What was the difference between anxiety and excitement, anyway?

His troops were awaiting for him outside, awaiting for him to address them. Listening closely, he could hear the frantic excitement mixed with the anxiety. His troops were, mostly, relics of conquests. Few of those who had served with him in the beginning could be counted among them, lost in the numerous battles that had been so necessary to unite the clans. While many of the shinobi in his number were now veterans of prior battles, there was no small number of them who had never fought under him. These people were either forced into service in the case of clan conquest, after a personal evaluation by himself to ensure loyalty, or taken into service as the agreement to peaceful assimilation. Though they were inexperienced they had been trained thoroughly for the challenges ahead; unfortunately, nothing could prepare for the realities of war and how the individual would react.

He picked up his mask, looking at the ornate details. It had been created in order to hide his identity and thus far had served its purpose. He would be wearing it for this campaign though he had not done so for any others. It was completed after the Unification had ended, and he did wear it quite frequently while going out. There were a number of rumors about it, a few of which he had picked up. That he only wore it when eliminating rebels, that it somehow increased his strength, that it was a gift from Jashin himself for loyalty. The last one reminded him of the Fujo Buredo, the sword upon his back, though he preferred to not think of the blade with its intoxicating power and corrupting influence. He attached the mask to his hip.

"So, gentlemen," he said to the four members of his forces seated before him who had been sitting in absolute quiet for nearly fifteen minutes as he looked at the map and prepared. Just another small test of loyalty for all of them, one of many. "The day is upon us at last. Due to the lack of reports stating otherwise, I will presume that everything went according to plan and we are ready."

There was an instant 'Hai' from all of them. "Good. Hideki, as promised, I have provided you five-hundred good, hand-picked men who will serve whatever you require of them in order to ensure our logistics are maintained. They will stay behind when the march begins and shall obey your orders, I have assured of that. You shall maintain Kamigakure and be in charge of the defense forces as well as being in charge of supply. I trust you to understand just how critical these tasks are. Your administrative power shall be quite limited, as I have appointed others to run the other major villages. Hiroto, you shall come with me and lead First Division, a division created for their capacity in assault. When a spearhead is needed, you shall provide it. Kenchi, you shall travel with me and stay among my personal bodyguard. You shall be given leeway to be deployed to various locations as you request in order to study the fields and better adjust our forces. Shinzen, I believe there is no need to discuss your assignment further. Are all of these things clear?"

Everyone's head bowed, showing their understanding of the tasks lying before them. "Good, dismissed." They all slowly rose before leaving the room, and he gave them a few minutes to disperse before he himself decided to leave. He walked down the hall of his Palace before coming to a room at the far end and entering. Little did anyone else know that within the seemingly inconsequential room at that very moment was possibly the most powerful group ever assembled in one room within the Elemental Nations. All twelve of the Shugoshin of Kamigakure plus the only man capable of commanding them.

"Oh hey, look who finally decided to fuckin' show his face." It was a well-known fact that the stronger a shinobi was, the tendency they had to lose any respect for authority. In the case of everyone else in the room, their respect had already been earned through war and battle, through hard-earned victory in duels. There was, of course, only one person who could possibly dare to speak to him in such a way without fear of death, possibly because this person could not die.

"Hidan, I shall not tolerate such insults without repercussion. Should all your limbs be removed and spread to the farthest reaches of this continent I can assure you I will not allow you to be put together again. Understood?"

"Oh come on pal, I was just joking." The man had a smile on his face, and Naruto could never really tell if he was intimidated or not. He had known Hidan for years at this point, and at one point had thought of him as a sensei, and though he had long eclipsed the immortal-nin, he knew that Hidan treated everything he said or did much more casually than anyone else as a result of knowing him before he had arrived in these lands. For these reasons he tried to prevent interaction between himself and Hidan around more regular shinobi. Thankfully, Hidan would typically relent in his behavior after his first outburst.

"My Shugoshin. A dozen of the strongest shinobi in my dominion. From various clans, with varying degrees of respect for their prior clan lives. Assembled in order to carry out the tasks that most shinobi could not dream to ever accomplish. I thank you for coming. I am sure, at this point, that you understand fully well that the tasks lying ahead of you will be full of bloodshed, death, suffering, and certainly worse. In the upcoming war you will be asked to do many tasks that will push even your skill to the limit. You will be expected to fight the best that the Elemental Nations has to offer, outnumbered, and to prevail in every occasion. Should you fail, you will be killed. Or worse. For this reason I have decided that from now on you shall operate in pairs, to better face the struggles ahead."

He reached into a pouch and took out twelve small scrolls, handing one to each of them detailing their partner as well as detailing exactly what was expected in terms of operational capacity. With Hidan and Akira working together, for example, he expected that Hidan would be able to win in almost any one-on-one fight while Akira was better suited for fighting against groups of shinobi, though her prior performance against Hinata, Shikamaru, and Ino cast a bit of doubt on that capacity. With her speed and unique kenjutsu abilities, however, it was at least a theoretical strength. Perhaps she had not yet quite fulfilled her potential. Still, in his head, he could not help but see Hidan defeating Kakashi Hatake as Akira fought with Sakura and other Konoha-nin when thinking of the pairing.

"Now, I have already prepared your first assignment. Here they are." He pulled out six more small scrolls from a pouch, handing one to one member of each pair. In general, the plan was to have two teams doing operations to disrupt the enemy forces, three teams fighting on the front lines, and one protecting the homefront. This may change as needed but he liked the idea in his mind quite a bit. A few people harassing, a few more being used to lessen the strain on the regular shinobi on the front, and a lone pair staying back to keep anything unfortunate from occurring. "I apologize for the swiftness of this gathering, but I do need to attend to other matters. Questions?"

They didn't bother to ask anything, knowing full well that their leader expected them to not need any clarification on orders, for theirs were always quite specific in their intention. Naruto was certain that providing the clearest orders possible for his strongest shinobi would not only increase their effectiveness but curb whatever disloyalty may be among them. After all, it was proven time after time in the shinobi world that stronger shinobi had a tendency to lose their loyalty in favor of their own self-interest. For this reason, Naruto preferred to not have much contact with his Shugoshin outside of mission assignment. While it may seem counter-intuitive to avoid them to build loyalty, it helped to prevent them from thinking of him casually as Hidan did and instead kept them entrapped with the tales that surrounded him. Additionally, it lessened the chances they would ever feel personally betrayed by anything he did.

"Good. I'll be on my way then."

There were, after all, always rumors swirling around about him and, so long as they were not of an intensely negative nature, he was willing to allow them. He was not from some unknown land seeking to make his mark upon this world; he was not some Demon Prince, though he was sure some of those who had fallen on the wrong side of his judgment would disagree. It was entertaining, in a way, to hear the amazing ways that people would twist the actual details of what he had done in to some tall tale. In the end, however, it simply elevated his status among them. He left the room, walking down a hallway and passing through an armory and lounge before exiting the building. Taking a few steps forward, he examined the crowd before him.

The area surrounding his palace was completely clear in a large square for some one-hundred yards. This design was, of course, on purpose in order to make the ornate building stand out even more; for the same reason, the building was intentionally placed in the center of the city. Yes, there could be no doubt of the power and influence held by the inhabitants of such a building over the city, and that was exactly Naruto's purpose. At the moment, the surrounding square clearing was not clear but rather occupied by thousands upon thousands of soldiers, who were recognizing now that their Shikage had appeared. Immediately upon recognition the crowd grew quieter, within a minute a near total silence having spread among them. He stood upon the top stair, microphone in front of him and speakers spread throughout the crowd to ensure that everyone would be able to hear him. In his estimates there were nearly twenty-thousand able-bodied shinobi as part of his invasion force and, he had to admit, with them all standing before him they did seem quite an impressive bunch. He wondered exactly how many shinobi there had been before the Unification, before the bloody battles and the judgment of the survivors. He also wondered how many he would have to face in the Elemental Nations, but was confident he had more shinobi with him than any single nation could muster at once.

"Shinobi of Kamigakure, my shinobi, I am sure that at this point there is little doubt left that there is a great task ahead. You stand, right now, amid the largest gathering of military might ever seen, and I assure you from my position that it is truly glorious to behold. The building of clans amid non-stop war, the bloodshed of Unification, the Reconstruction, and of course the training, have all been stepping stones to this moment. This moment, the moment in which we shall all band together and, with a single unified fist, reach out and grasp true glory. So what, exactly, is this great and glorious task? Bringing the Elemental Nations within my dominion. Though you may believe it to be so, this is not a conquest and we are not to be conquerors. No, it is simply the continuation of Unification, bringing the entirety of the Ninja World together under unified rule. Much as these lands were locked in an era of eternal strife, so too are the Elemental Nations. It is my duty, for them as it was to you, to put a final end to this era and to bring about a new age, to burn away the rotten foundations and to rebuild them entirely.

Hold no illusions on this simple fact: this will be a great struggle. Our enemies shall be numerous and their resistance fierce. They will fight with no reservation, with no desire to do anything other than resist everything we have created. We are the representation of everything they fear. Their shinobi live and die at the will of a Daimyo who will never see them and will never know their names; our shinobi never answer to anyone who would be unwilling or unable to go out onto the battlefields themselves. While a Daimyo witnesses war from the comfort of a palace throne room amid gatherings for tea, I experience it from the front lines. Their lives within a world where a friend one day is an enemy the next, a never ceasing struggle for power and influence, while we've established a stable society lacking in such fears. Just the other day, in our glorious capital, I saw a child of Oda descent and a child of Kazehara descent playing in the streets, who prior to Unification would have never known of each other's existence. Takeda and Asakura, bitter enemies who opposed each other at every step, now serving together in this very army. True testaments to the righteousness of our cause.

Their leaders will resist the forces of Unification in much the same way as the old clan heads of these lands did. They will not be thinking about the long term good of their people, will not have any thoughts in their minds other than holding on to whatever power they already own. In the Elemental Nations, not only do they have clan heads, but they also have Kage who lead large ninja villages and rely upon the Daimyo for financial support. There are five Kage who dominate over the rest; the Kazekage, Tsuchikage, Raikage, Mizukage, and Hokage. The militant arm of the Daimyo's will. It is these five leaders who will offer the most resistance, who will cling most tightly to the world of strife and power struggle that they have helped to create. From these opponents we can expect no honorable surrender, can expect nothing less than total resistance until they are forcibly removed from any position of authority by any means. And so they shall be removed, by any means.

I can tell now, from the looks upon many of your faces, that you have begun to understand the nature of the challenges that lie ahead. But if I did not trust my shinobi to the fullest, if I did not believe they could overcome the obstacles, would I tell you about it? Would I not just lie to you, tell you that the corrupt nature of our enemy shall make them easy to defeat? But no, I have the utmost faith in all of my shinobi to execute their duties to the fullest extent possible. And so too should my shinobi place all their faith in me, that I shall do everything within my power to ensure the success of our great mission. So long as our faith in one another holds strong, then no force can oppose us. It is important to remember that this is a necessary effort. Were we to do nothing, were we not to strike first, there is no doubt in my mind that the Eastern Nations would do everything possible to undermine and act against us. They would come to us, seeking to destroy everything that we have built and to shatter the unity that so many have sacrificed their lives to create. For this reason we shall ensure that it is us who seize the initiative.

We shall strike. We shall strike swiftly and forcefully. We shall strike, and we shall prevail. Victory awaits." He put his mask on, doing it now to get them better used to it. "Remember your orders. The final campaign has begun." There was a loud cheering from all corners of the previously silent crowd, a raucous uproar that seemed to infect the very air and to keep everyone else cheering onward. The citizens of the city pausing in their daily lives in order to identify the source of the noise, seeing a large armed force cheering on their Shikage. Naruto knew everything that his shinobi would need to hear in order to be personally invested in the venture. So long as they wanted to participate in the battles ahead, he knew that the chances of success were raised significantly. A motivated shinobi was always a powerful force; he held himself as an example. He walked leisurely down the steps and through the middle of his army. They parted to make way for him, and he went through keeping his eyes forward, toward the East.

* * *

Gaara, Godaime Kazekage of Sunagakure, stood upon a minaret overlooking the city of Suna. As on many nights he found himself unable to sleep properly; a side effect, he had learned, of Shukaku being rather recklessly sealed within him. The one-tailed beast was, as always it felt, screaming rather loudly at him from inside his own mind. More calls for blood, more dissatisfaction at the current state of his host. It had been quite some time since Gaara had killed anyone; some days it became a nearly inescapable lust, but thus far his willingness to spite both his father and the demon his father had sealed in him was enough to keep everything under control. The villagers no longer feared him as they once had. He was not sure when it had changed and thought that it had certainly not been some overnight transition. When he was made Kazekage, following a rather long period wherein Suna was run by a council after the disastrous invasion of Konoha and his own embarrassing defeat, he had no doubt that the people still lived in fear of him. The largest reason he had gained the position was due to the fact that very few shinobi wanted the position and, of the others who did, he made a strong point to challenge them to duels. Of the two that accepted, none now lived. Thus, he was made Kazekage. The mere fact that he knew how much his father would hate that he had inherited the title made the boring job much more worthwhile.

There was something different about tonight, though he could not quite identify what it was. It was as if the sand itself was calling out to him and attempting to tell him something but he could not quite translate its message. It had never happened before, but he wanted to believe that perhaps it was only because of his continued lack of sleep. Surely, at some point, sleep deprivation would get to him would it not? Yet, it never had before and why should it tonight. Perhaps there was another hint in the way that Shukaku had begun to yell even louder than usual, though at this point Gaara had long learned to drown out the beast's irritating voice. Yes, there was something different in the sand tonight and as he tried to intone some message from the mere feeling of the desert, a task impossible for anyone but the owner of the Ichibi, he could not help but think that maybe it was fear.

* * *

A/N: Finally, another chapter. More gradual progression in the story that I hope you'll all enjoy. There's not really much to say this time and I do feel that's a good thing. I've done my best to adjust the paragraph length in order to increase the readability of the story; the paragraphs were unintentionally short due to a discrepancy between the program I use to type and the formatting of the site. Hopefully from now on it shall be better. As some of you may have noticed, I've also taken up writing another story (New Yellow Flash) which I do not feel detracts from writing this story since they're both very different and I usually feel like writing one or the other but not both.

As always, thank you for reading and please feel free to follow, favorite, review, or just continuing to read.


	11. Battle for Suna (Part 1)

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Kishimoto does

The desert of Suna was always renowned for its unpleasant heat and, as the forces of Kamigakure marched on its sweltering sands, they learned quickly that they would not be provided an exception. The western portion of the Suna desert was so inhospitable and hostile that it was the main reason the West and East so rarely interacted. Should any citizen or merchant attempt crossing it was far too likely they would die from heat exhaustion or be lost forever in a sandstorm of some sort. Eastern Shinobi were not welcome to the West, as they seemed to only be criminals or spies; Western Shinobi were generally too occupied with their own affairs to bother attempting to go east. The sandstorms in the western desert were well-known as being particularly dangerous and frequent, though the forces had thus far experienced none. At this point they had been marching for eight days and, though the temperature was hot, every precaution had been made to ensure that every shinobi was supplied enough water and the pace was kept slow enough to prevent heat exhaustion. Obviously, when going into a war outnumbered it was advisable to prevent as many non-battle casualties as possible.

When organizing his army, he sought about creating an organizational system that was as flexible as the system in the Elemental Nations while also maintaining a strong degree of centralization. In Konoha, for example, the Hokage created teams on a mission-by-mission basis with the exception of Genin teams. For his invasion force, however, he could not afford to do that; such a system would be completely outdated with an army such as his, especially one that was on the move without an established headquarters to operate from. After a long time of going over theories and reading prior writings on military organization, he eventually implemented a system that kept central leadership important while also promoting flexibility. In the end, it sacrificed a bit of flexibility relative to Konoha but was more fitting for his purpose.

In his main army were approximately twenty-thousand soldiers. For these soldiers there existed ten divisions, each numbering two-thousand. In each division there were an unspecified number of brigades and, within brigades, there were an unspecified number of squads. The number of brigades in a division was left up to the division commanders, shoshonin, who themselves answered only to him. The number of squads within a brigade was then left up to the brigade heads, the taisanin, who were appointed by the division commander. Naruto created divisions and appointed division commanders, these commanders would then create brigades and appoint brigade heads, and the brigade heads would then create squads led by gunsonin that could be either permanent or temporary at their discretion. The chain-of-command, then, was Naruto followed by division commander followed by brigade head followed by squad leader. Shikage, shoshonin, taisanin, gunsonin. By using this method, he issued orders to his shoshonin who would then use the assets under their control to complete them as they saw best possible.

There were many advantages to this system that he had thus far thought up. Firstly, it allowed for him to give orders directly to shoshonin, who he could be absolutely sure would understand them clearly. Secondly, it allowed for his shoshonin to judge for themselves the force required to accomplish a task as opposed to him himself having to personally assign a team which may or may not be enough. If he ordered Division Six to destroy a bridge, then shoshonin-roku could assign the appropriate number of taisanin to carry out the job. Thirdly, he could stay focused on the more large-scale aspects of the operation instead of having to worry which individual shinobi needed to do every task. Fourthly, it also meant he need not even assign every task; if he ordered a shoshonin to capture an area, then they could decide for themselves how best to do so and which bridges to destroy. He knew that his shoshonin had an understanding of how he personally wanted things to be done so would not have to worry too much about varying methods. Fifthly, the army organization was almost perfect for countering the military techniques of the Elemental Nations.

Shinobi Warfare in the Elemental Nations was a simple yet complex art. Ninja Villages generate the majority of their revenue through missions, which require shinobi of various skill to complete. In times of war, they still attempt to get as many missions done as possible in order to prevent any kind of economic collapse. After all, there was always a chance the Daimyo would not supply what was needed or it would be delayed. Therefore, even in times of large-scale conflict, ninja of mostly genin level would be completing missions in order to generate revenue. What this translated to was a simple fact: the large, overwhelming majority of shinobi warfare consisted of small-scale fights between fewer than fifteen shinobi of either side just so happening to meet each other due to assignments that overlapped. Occasionally, several teams of one side would meet, have orders that made them stay in contact, and would get reinforced until it was a large battle. Or, as in the infamous Kanabi Bridge mission, one side would send overwhelming force unexpectedly in an attempt to squash any opposition. Several of the largest battles in history were due to one-side attempting to use a single massive force to strike and end the conflict. These were the battles that resulted in figures like the Nidaime Hokage and Sandaime Raikage sacrificing themselves. The grand, pitched battles told of in history books were in-fact a small minority of the wars' battles.

His army, however, was not organized to fight like any other. His invasion force would not be completing missions for revenue; their homeland was taking care of its own revenue, the lack of a Daimyo serving as a middle-man meaning that the funds generated from all sources of revenue went directly into the budget, of which he had already allocated spending which ensured that smaller amounts than usual were going into public improvement in favor of creating a surplus that could keep his troops supplied. If he were to assign the shoshonin-go to take a region of Tsuchi no Kuni, he would have two thousand troops at the ready for the task, a far cry from the typical Hidden Village style of small-scale war. If two-thousand troops show up and start securing villages, raiding supplies, taking crops, would the Tsuchikage send five squads to combat it? Ten? One-Hundred? They will be forced into a philosophy of war that is new to them whereas he has been training in it for years. For those moments when the truly elite enemy shinobi began to make headway, when the battles became pitched, he had his Shugoshin to send in order to make a needed impact. Or, if need be, himself.

Finally, in the distance, Naruto saw the city of Sunagakure and let out a barely audible sigh of relief. As they had been walking, he had been utilizing a jutsu nearly constantly in order to prevent sandstorms. The basic way the jutsu worked was to utilize wind-chakra to push the sand in the air toward the ground, keeping sandstorms from forming. The idea had come to his mind during preparations, and he knew it was possible since he had already learned jutsu that could affect weather. Due to the low mass of sand and the natural wind in the air, it was a surprisingly low-chakra jutsu at its base level. However, whenever the wind gusted it caused him to be forced to use more chakra in order to compensate, and during the more intense gusts it began to take a toll on him. Having to use it for as long as he had done thus far was a bit more of a drain than he would have liked to admit, but it had been necessary, of course, to keep the passage over as safe as possible.

Up to this point, they had not run into any Suna-nin. In case there were Suna-nin patrolling the western deserts, he had assigned three Shugoshin teams to go ahead of them and attempt to clear out any enemies they may have run into while two others infiltrated the city itself. Apparently they had successfully done their job, though undoubtedly Suna would be put on alert if any of their squads had been missing. Then again, it was possible Suna had no one patrolling the area since, with their reputation as the weakest great ninja village they may have had as many shinobi as possible doing missions just to maintain their status among the top five. It hardly mattered at this point, though; if he could see Suna, then it was almost certain that there was a lookout on the walls who had spotted them and was undoubtedly reporting it to the Kazekage. This was not a concern, really; the important thing was that they had not been seen far enough ahead of time for Suna to call back all its shinobi. Yes, they undoubtedly had a large portion of their forces out on missions, but the hope was that the plan of attack would be successful no matter the enemy readiness.

The strategy for the capture of Sunagakure was actually quite simple, and he thought this was a good thing. While complex, multi-layered strategies were interesting to make successful, there were times where they could do more harm than good. Divisions One, Two, Four, Seven, and Nine would be participating in a frontal assault while Divisions Three and Eight secured the outsides of the city from a safe distance. In doing so, they would purposefully leave a large gap in the direction of Konoha in order to give the enemy the option of retreat, meaning that many would be less incentivized to fight to the death. Divisions Six and Ten would be staying back as a rear-guard and as a reactionary force should something happen that was not according to plan. The assault would begin with a series of long-range jutsu being launched against the wall's defenders, and after a few waves of this, Divisions One and Seven would attempt to secure a portion of the wall. Division One was specially designed in order to accomplish tasks such as this, with a very high number of taijutsu specialists and close-range ninjutsu specialists in their mix, with Hiroto himself leading them due to the positive morale factor the man had. Once Divisions One and Seven secured a large portion of the outer wall, Divisions Two, Four, and Nine would move in to reinforce. One, Four, and Nine would then assault into the city all the way to the Kazekage's Tower as Two and Seven fought to secure the entirety of the wall. Meanwhile, once the fighting had started, his two infiltrated Shugoshin teams would begin disrupting from the inside.

They were nearly within range now, the city's walls undoubtedly seeming daunting and impenetrable to the average shinobi. Even from this distance he could make out Suna-nin scrambling atop the walls to ready a defense. He stood at the front of his army, unafraid of any actions the enemy may take. From what he knew, a lot of Suna-nin had a natural affinity for wind jutsu, and he would be willing to wager that not one of them would be as trained in the nature as him. He'd spent years, with countless shadow clones, honing his wind affinity to a degree of mastery that he was certain few others had attained. As such, he was entirely confident that should the Suna-nin attempt to use long-range wind jutsu he could overpower and disrupt it easily. The orders had already been issued to his shoshonin and there were only five of the ten divisions behind him. They spread out to create a wider front and assure that no mass enemy jutsu could endanger too many lives, as a precaution. Hopefully the more defensive-minded shinobi would be able to protect their comrades when necessary.

They were within range, in his estimate now. The city of Sunagakure was probably still five-hundred meters away, far outside the effective fighting distance of most shinobi. For the most part he knew that many of his shinobi were also incapable at the distance but some were. The strategy was for the longest-range shinobi to attack with a series of simple yet concentrated jutsu in which they had trained; after two waves, wherein the enemy was softened up a bit from the attacks, the rest of the divisions would advance forward under the cover of the other shinobi. Luckily the walls of Suna were tall enough that the shinobi furthest back could direct their techniques over their allies' heads. The other divisions would march much closer into a far more effective combat range and launch attacks at the walls. Then, after two waves, Divisions One and Seven would move in, scale the walls, and engage in combat. As they made headway the other divisions would filter in.

He stopped walking forward, still a fair bit ahead of his divisions. Kunai began to fly at him from the walls but he had the perfect jutsu to counter it. The Wind Style: Wind Armor jutsu could deal with enemy kunai and shuriken with ease and at this point he could perform the technique practically subconsciously. Should any enemies try to enhance their kunai with wind chakra then the armor would counter-act the added chakra easily enough. He had no doubt that, to the enemy shinobi, it was somewhat demoralizing to see a man standing at such range, making no movements, having all the projectiles thrown at him being effortlessly deflected through some unknown method. No matter all the discipline, no matter the grandness of his intentions, there was always some part of him that loved a bit of dramatic flair. Moments later, he heard the sound of jutsu being called out.

The first wave of attacks were launched, all wind and fire jutsu from the long-range specialists. Each attack was as concentrated as possible, in order to minimize the amount of chakra lost during the journey to the wall. The wind and fire mixed shortly after leaving their respective users, resulting in a large amount of combination jutsu heading towards the wall of Suna. He could see the enemy attempting a variety of defensive jutsu, though since they were mostly of a wind nature they were not very effective at dealing with offensive fire jutsu. The attacks made contact with the wall, the flames folding up over the top and pushing onward. The enemy were given thirty seconds' reprieve, just enough to make them doubt if it was coming again, before the second wave of attacks. As this attack went on, the divisions began to move up towards the walls under the cover the friendly jutsu provided, enemy-nin ducking under the walls to cover themselves. Naruto moved up ahead of them, staying clearly in the front.

Once they were at adequate range, one much more dangerous both for them and their opponents, a much wider array of ninjutsu began to be flung at the wall in addition to kunai of differing types. Whereas before it had been a lot of fireballs and wind bullets, there were now streams of fire, great breakthroughs, dragons of both natures, and too many more across the whole front to really take notice of each individual technique. The defenders were really starting to look overwhelmed, their numbers along the portion of the wall decreasing, undoubtedly due to a combination of both casualties and repositioning. If the enemy wanted to simply give them a portion of the wall then he would take it, for he was sure they would never get it back. In his head he could see it clearly: the Kazekage attempting to organize his shinobi, attempting to mount a defense even while having to ensure some shinobi are evacuating citizens or running messages; the chaos of panic running through the citizenry and shinobi alike, the uncertainty of re-deploying troops along a wall that's being attacked when further enemies could be seen in nearly every other direction. Another wave of attacks, and Divisions One and Seven began charging up to scale the wall to initiate the close-range fighting. The shoshonin of the divisions seemed to have decided on going up initially with about four-hundred men and pushing in reinforcements gradually in order to prevent the fighting from being too cramped.

His divisions had, thus far, done their job perfectly and the casualties seemed to be nearly zero. Of course, most of the casualties from a mission like this for both sides was going to be coming from the combat in the city. Then again, assailing up the walls and getting the chance to fight on them at nearly full strength was a definite positive and absolutely not something to take for granted. To even get to this point had taken large-scale coordination between multiple divisions. With everything going according to plan, which at this point in his career was somewhat surprising, he decided that maybe it would be acceptable to lead from the front. After all, his shoshonin already had their orders and he could easily enough get a message to them using shadow clones. It made sense to him that, were anything to go horribly wrong from this point on, it would be within the city.

Unable to resist the call of battle, he ran at a slow pace, surpassing the divisions in front of him who he could practically feel staring at him as he passed. The enemies on the further sides of the wall, the ones not currently engaging in close-quarters combat, noticed him as well and a few attempted jutsu of varying types in an attempt at stopping him, perhaps sensing in some way that he was a priority target. It was of little use, however, for none of their kunai or jutsu could deal with his protective wind armor anyway. He simply ran through them, chakra being diverted around him and kunai being flung in random directions. Perhaps he was showing off just a little bit for his shinobi, but it had been so long since he had been in a real battle, a little over a year now, and its calling was sending a familiar surge of adrenaline through him in anticipation. Besides, he needed to start laying the groundwork for shinobi in the elemental nations to fear and respect him as much as his own shinobi did. He scaled the wall a bit further to the right than where the two divisions were currently fighting, in order to keep the fighting from being too constricted and in order to provide a bit of a distraction to help his forces. The very moment he reached the top of the wall there was a hail of jutsu from in-front and, with a quick glance, he judged that there were at least two dozen enemy shinobi right upon him, with the others in the immediate area focusing on his shinobi instead of himself.

He jumped in the air with a quick leap to dodge the pre-aimed jutsu and, once high above the enemy, did a few jutsu of his own. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." A clone appeared beside him, immediately throwing a kunai down toward the enemy. "Multi-Shadow Shuriken Jutsu." The kunai quickly multiplies into a hundred. "Great Breakthrough"the simple wind jutsu surges the kunai forward, making them faster and giving them much more impact than they would have had previously. The clone dismisses, its simple purpose done. Within moments the sound of steel impacting human flesh and screams of pain were heard and the shinobi who had not been able to react quick enough or to put a defensive jutsu soon enough were dead or dying. Landing on the ground, he quickly lunged at an enemy shinobi who attempted to land a punch to his stomach. He grabbed the arm, twisted it, broke it, punched the man two times in the midsection, and elbowed his head into the ground. Without a moment's reprieve, he turned around and punched at the next enemy's head. He let it be blocked, used his leg to uproot the opponent, then slammed a left-handed Rasengan into him. The next shinobi attempted to use a wind jutsu of some kind but it was ineffective against his wind armor; with the application of a few punches and a kunai, the man would not attempt it again. Briefly, out the corner of his eye, he saw a few explosions in the middle of the city. It seemed his Shugoshin were doing their job well.

That's when he got an idea. After his fight with Jiraiya, he had been inspired to begin working on a new jutsu. When Jiraiya had been in Sage Mode, he had utilized the ability to land powerful strikes without actually connecting his punches. It had been a surprising attack and, immediately upon the fight's conclusion, he had begun contemplating to what extent he could mimic the technique. In a way, it could be thought of as a natural extension of the wind armor, extending the reach of the chakra in his hands. The result of the jutsu so far at least was not exactly in the same realm as Jiraiya's technique. Instead of strong strikes resulting from some fundamental aspect of sage chakra, the wind chakra replacement resulted in more of a flowing, cutting motion. He was not really sure of the practicality of the jutsu at this point, seeing as how the wind armor could already damage enemies rather substantially in taijutsu, but decided to give it a try. "Wind Style: Cutting Fists" and now he had more wind chakra flowing down into his hands. He launched himself at the nearest opponent, punching him the arm with a bit less force than typical and seeing a decent-sized cut appear; next punch, to the throat, dead. For the next opponent, he used a lot more chakra and managed to kill him just before his fist made contact.

The terror in the eyes of his opponents as they realized how outclassed they were was definitely one of Naruto's guilty pleasures, one of the things that always inspired him more in his training. After twenty of their own shinobi had been killed by one man without landing a single blow in retaliation, the Suna-nin that were around him were definitely not looking like they were ready for a fight. Naruto, however, was feeling all too willing to continue, excited at having the thrill of full-scale battle once more. All of a sudden there was a loud scream coming from the center of the city as a large burst of chakra filled the air. Moments later, the Demon of the Sands himself, Shikaku the Ichibi, was in the middle of the city with Gaara atop its head. Apparently, his Shugoshin had managed to make the Kazekage quite upset and managed to bring out the beast itself. His thoughts turned toward the sword on his back: the Fujo Buredo. He couldn't decide if it was a positive or a negative that the Suna-nin couldn't see the slight smile on his face.

* * *

A/N: I put a lot of thought into this chapter, trying to figure out exactly how I wanted to make everything come together. The military organization, as I'm sure many already know, is pretty much a chopped-up version of the American system utilizing japanese names for military rankings as titles. I really like the way it worked out, personally, and hope that all of you will too. Hopefully you find that the combat has been described well-enough and that the military strategy makes sense, though I do hope to improve in my descriptions for both. I have been quite the fan of studying military strategy and history in my spare time and definitely enjoyed writing this chapter a lot because of it.

As always, thank you for reading. Please feel free to follow, favorite, review, or continuing to read.


	12. Battle for Suna (Part 2)

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Kishimoto does

Once the fighting started, his two teams of Shugoshin were assigned to prevent the Kazekage from assisting his forces directly by engaging him in combat. While four Shugoshin, a third of the total number, would have been more than a fair match for Gaara alone, he was sure that two of them had engaged Gaara while the other two had been attempting to prevent the Kage from getting any assistance from anbu squads or other sources. Apparently, if Shukaku was being utilized, they had got under the jinchuriki's skin and the redhead still had quite the temper. Glancing over, he could see that his divisions had been making gradual progress in their task and that at least one-thousand soldiers at this point were engaged in combat along vast portions of the wall and entering the city. Undoubtedly, in another five to ten minutes, it'd be up to two-thousand at the pace they were spreading. Suna-nin were still straddling in from every direction, attempting to form the strongest resistance they could. It was time to make a statement, to fundamentally shake the belief of the enemy in their own strength with a single bold move. Looking upon the Ichibi standing in the city, he knew exactly the way to do it. He created five shadow clones to take care of any enemies around him, confident that even a clone of himself could more than handle the majority of any shinobi they might face.

He reached behind himself and took a firm grip on the handle of the Fujo Buredo. Drawing it slowly, he could feel the power immediately begin to surge through him, starting at his hand and quickly dispersing throughout his entire body. It felt good. The Unholy Blade, a gift from Jashin which increased its strength by taking the lives of capable fighters. Throughout the Western Nations it became very well known that the weapon was something dreadful, its drawing typically the prelude to an event that would involve a lot of blood and corpses. The key to ensuring its mystical nature among his shinobi had been to use it seldomly yet to use it decisively, to create a fear of the sword in those who had survived and those who had yet to be conquered.

The moment it was fully unsheathed and its red blade held out before him, he could do nothing but feel a desire to torch the entirety of Sunagakure to the ground, to force captured shinobi and citizenry to watch as their homes were destroyed before their very eyes and then to execute them to send a message to the rest of the villages, to then march directly to Konoha and to torture every single citizen and shinobi while individually demolishing each and every building before destroying the Hokage Monument. The only way to get around these intense desires was to focus on an objective: in this case, Shukaku. While it may not be possible to kill the beast, he was certain that a strong enough jutsu would be able to dispense of it and take care of Gaara. Perhaps, were it not for the blade in his hand, he might have felt sorry for the poor creature.

Without a moment's more delay, he began gathering as much chakra as possible in the blade, both from the accumulated might of the blade and from his own personal reserve. He had not really attempted such a massive jutsu using the blade before, having used it mostly to finish off regular shinobi and to build up its power specifically for the monumental moments such as this. Still, there was a part of him that knew it was possible due to accomplishing the type of technique he wanted on a much smaller scale before. The beast stood lumbering in the distance, striking out, destroying its own village in its attempts at defeating its attackers, and yet it was ignorant. It had no idea of the strike that was about to befall it, had no clue the power that it was possible for a human to obtain. In that moment, Naruto knew he hated the creature and wished he had a more permanent method for completely destroying it. Hated it for the ungraceful way it moved, the boisterous way in which it talked, the mere fact that it was a tailed beast unworthy of being compared to the one which he possessed causing him to take an even more intense disgust at the creature. The thought made the Kyuubi chakra within him attempt to bubble to the surface, but he suppressed it.

The chakra was gathering more quickly in the sword, the incredible blade glowing a bright shade of red and vibrating due to the pure intensity and concentration of the chakra. Yet, he continued to gather more, reaching deeper into the blade's accumulated reserve, knowing full well that it would be weaker the next time he drew it but wishing to put a temporary end to the wretched monster. After a moment's more, he began to feel that enough chakra had been gathered. His personal reserve was feeling as depleted as it had in a long time, as was the blade's. Without anymore hesitation, he swung the sword at the Ichibi, still half a city away.

"Dark Style: Reaping Scythe"

An incredible gust of concentrated wind chakra left the blade, forming a thin blood-red crescent that stretched all the way from his position atop the wall to the very ground itself. It moved incredibly quickly towards Shukaku, leaving a swath of destruction in its wake, destroying buildings and structures with no resistance whatsoever. The beast clearly felt something coming for it and turned around to face the attack, but it did not even have enough time to react before it struck him in the middle. The pure strength of the attack stammered the beast, and it let out a sickening scream as the wind chakra cut deeply into it. There was a deep gash in the ground left behind it. For a moment it was as if time stood still; he could see nearly every shinobi turning to look at the attack as it ravaged the village's demon turned guardian. Moments later, when it seemed the beast would be cut cleanly in half, the chakra lost its stability and exploded, sending sand flying in every direction where the Ichibi once stood. Even from this distance he could see Gaara sent reeling back from the force of the explosion, body seeming motionless with blood in the air.

Before anymore time passed he quickly sheathed the sword in order to cut off its influence. Feeling the power drain out of him back into the sword was always an unnerving experience but he knew that every second he spent using it was dangerous and made him think in ways that were not exactly rational. For the most part, he was capable of resisting any of its influence and remember the difference between the thoughts the sword provoked and his own. He looked around and it was plain to see that the Suna-nin were demoralized, many now with blank or sullen expressions on their face. Their Kazekage, a man whom many of them feared for his entire life, had just used his most powerful technique in order to defend them. And yet, in one swift strike, their leader had been defeated. Naruto, meanwhile, could see his own troops further over on the wall, pushing even harder against the Suna-nin who were folding. He simply stood there, contemplating the battle thus far and allowing his chakra to begin to recuperate. On either side of him there were two shadow clones who were fighting enemy shinobi with success.

Within five more minutes, soldiers from the five divisions actively participating in the assault were beginning to come in at a much faster pace as shinobi from divisions One, Four, and Nine began to push into the city as shinobi from Two and Seven continued to secure the wall itself. Everything seemed to be going well so far, better than expected. His shadow clones on his left had managed to push the enemy until there were no more and only Kami-nin were left in front of them. Within perhaps one-hour of combat, one-third of the wall had been captured, the enemy were demoralized, and the Kazekage at the least rendered combat ineffective. His divisions seemed to be working and, while he dreaded every casualty due to the inevitability of being outnumbered, he could be confident so far that the enemy had suffered more. Unless something of significance changed, he would do no more this battle. It was important to allow his shinobi to develop a sense of confidence in themselves and in their own strength, so that they would carry it into future engagements with enemies. Additionally, his divisions and military organization were going through their first test, and it would be important to let them carry out their parts of the plan as assigned in order to build a trust of the system.

* * *

It was the first battle of his career; the first time he had taken another life in the name of Unification, the first time he had seen a friendly shinobi killed for it; it was unlike anything he could have imagined. Ever since his first encounter with Shikage-sama, he had been anticipating it. Currently, he was serving in Division One under his mentor Hiroto, but he was not only a servant; he was also a taisanin, the only one in his division who had not served in prior battles. Leading other shinobi, some of whom were quite experienced either in battles or years, was not an easy task, yet he was confident himself to do it because Shikage-sama was relying upon it.

As the sand creature exploded in the middle of the city, he could see the life drain from the eyes of the Suna-nin. It seemed its loss was a great blow to their morale, and it made sense to him that Shikage-sama would seek to eliminate such a creature from the field of battle. He had seen the strike, practically able to feel its power emanating even from such distance. It seemed like everyone had seen it; for a few moments he was sure he had not heard the sound of nearby combat. He knew, looking upon the enemy, that the time was perfect for an all-out assault. Thus far, they had taken a very methodical strategy to dealing with the enemy, one that was almost entirely pre-meditated. If they were going to win the battle decisively, however, it seemed that it was the time to innovate.

"Ichi-Go," he said, signaling the shinobi of Division One Brigade Five, also known as those under his command, "forward! Follow me!" He did not pause to look around and see if anybody had heard him, for he was sure many did. He broke out into a sprint, running down the contested street with jutsu flying all around him. He saw some sort of wind jutsu coming right at him but had already been preparing an earth jutsu of his own. "Earth Style: Earth Pillar!" placing one hand on the ground, a pillar of dirt immediately arose high into the air with him on top. He jumped forward, "Earth Style: Earth Shot!", and the pillar turned into multiple chunks of hardened earth and was sent speeding towards the enemies creating a diversion. He continued running, running directly past the distracted Suna-nin and moving onward, trusting in his shinobi to clean them up in the midst of their confusion. "Earth Style: Earth Wall!" he said, placing a hand behind him to create a wall to protect himself just in case. Continuing the push, it was as if everything was in slow motion due to the overwhelming amount of adrenaline surging through him. It felt amazing.

"Earth Style: Earth Wall!" he said again, this time doing the jutsu in each hand. A wall came up on his left and on his right, blocking two wind jutsu from getting to him. He could hear the sound of close-quarters combat behind him, but knew he needed to push further in order to make a significant gain. They needed to push aggressively, while the Suna-nin were dazed and confused. An enemy shinobi came to him and swung a sword diagonally; he backed off quickly, drawing two kunai as fast as he could. The enemy-nin carried forth his momentum for a spinning hit, but he used the kunai to block the sword. He attempted to stab with his right-hand, but the enemy took one step backward to avoid it as he went in for an overhead strike. He dodged to the side and threw his left kunai into the man's side, causing him to stumble slightly. "Earth Style: Rising Spears!" Sharpened spear-like objects rose from the ground quickly, impaling the man from below and rendering him incapable of fighting. Probably dead, though he had little time to check as two more shinobi were within fighting distance.

"Wind Style: Wind Blade!" and he was forced to roll to the right to dodge the jutsu. "Wind Style: Air Bullet!" he jumped to the right in order to dodge the second shinobi's jutsu as well.

"Earth Style: Sinkhole!" The ground beneath the two shinobi collapsed into a large pit, but they had the reaction in order to not fall into it where he would then use a second jutsu to fill it in and trap them. Deciding to increase his own strengths in the contest as oppose to letting himself be at the enemy's whim, he charged directly toward them in order to engage in Taijutsu.

He ducked under a punch from one nin and attempted a strike of his own that was dodged with a backstep. Immediately he had to take a quick-step to the left in order to dodge a kick from the other. He delivered a kick of his own to the man, who took a step backwards from the force, but was punished by taking a punch from the other enemy. Not letting the strike get to him, he sunk down and attempted a leg-sweep of his opponent that was dodged with a nimble jump. He responded by raising himself as quickly as he could and hitting with an uppercut. The two Suna-nin regrouped, drawing kunai, preparing for another confrontation.

Suddenly, a wind-fire combination jutsu struck down the two enemies who were focused on him. He looked at his reinforcements and recognized them as two of the soldiers under his command.

"Daisuke, do you know how far you've gone!" One of them asked, to which he was somewhat surprised.

"Fifty meters?" he answered, to which the man scoffed.

"Fifty? Try five-hundred!"

He looked back, for the first time since his eventful excursion had started, and saw that there was quite a large stretch of street between where he stood now and where the fighting had once been concentrated. All throughout the street, the close-range specialists of his brigade were fighting enemy-nin and seemed to be sweeping past them quickly en route to him. Many of the Suna-nin even seemed to be running away, possibly out of fear that they would now be fighting on too many sides to handle. Instead of the somewhat long-range street fight they had once been in, it was now an up close and personal brawl, the perfect kind for the men of Division One. For the first time in what felt like ages but was undoubtedly only a few minutes, he allowed himself to catch a breath. He had not realized just how much chakra he had expended in order to actually make his plan work, probably because it took extra chakra to make the ground of Suna hard enough for Doton jutsu.

"You fought like a man possessed." One of them observed, and he had a response ready without having to spend even a moment thinking about it.

"His will guides me." He examined the location he was in now; if he could just secure the row of buildings a hundred meters in front of him, then they could cause havoc from the rooftops.

"Forward, men! Shikage-sama commands it!"

* * *

Hinata sat quietly in her cell, tonight as she did every other night. Her strategy to deal with her imprisonment had been to be as unremarkable as was humanly possible. When the dungeon keeper brought her food in the morning and in the nights, she would say thank you and nothing else. If anyone else walked down the hall she would sit down on the bed and do nothing at all to garner attention. Much to her surprise she had not been tortured or even heavily interrogated at all; as far as prisons went she was sure it could have been far worse. She wondered how much of that she owed to her captor. There were so many things that she wanted to ask Naruto. How had he become involved with Jashin? Why had he run away from Konoha? What things had he done here in the West? How did he become a leader? Why had he allowed her teammates to go free? She was not sure, however, that she would ever get the chance to talk to him again. Ever since that one night where he had taken off his mask, he had not been back down. In fact, for the past ten days, he had not even been in the building. She knew this because, fortunately, her captors had not thought to block the flow of chakra to her eyes.

She wasn't sure she would ever talk to Naruto again because tonight was the night that she attempted to escape. She had waited for days just to ensure that he was gone and that the low level of security in the building was a somewhat permanent situation. It seemed like it would be, and she could not afford to waste more time and give the situation a chance to get worse. That's why she had made a rather simple plan: kill the warden, sneak out of the city, then leave the country. She would need to find some food and drink before leaving the country, but she would worry about that after she had managed to leave the city. When she saw the warden coming, instead of her usual attitude of being easily forgotten, she sat down on the edge of her bed with her face in her hands and began to sob. Not too loudly, because that would seem out of place, but quietly. He wouldn't be able to tell with her hands over her eyes, but her Byakugan was activated so she would know when to strike. He walked in front of her cell and seemed to look in closely, food tray in his hand.

"Hey, are you alright?" She didn't reply, continuing to pretend that she was sobbing. She heard him sigh as he fumbled around for the cell keys. "Shikage-sama says you're a priority prisoner" he mumbled under his breath, loud enough for her to hear, "so I guess that means I gotta check up on ya. Look, I need you to calm down" he said in a louder voice, almost as if an order. He was close now, and she knew it was her time to strike. She let her right arm drop, resulting in a fork landing in her hand. Without a moment's more delay, she leaped up and stabbed the man in the neck with the utensil. As he reeled back, she got behind him, put her hands on his head, and snapped his neck, making him drop to the ground dead. It was already a slight relief to see her cell door opened for the first time since her capture.

She began searching the body, looking for anything that could be useful. Particularly, she would have enjoyed finding some way to get rid of the chakra suppressing seals on her. She knew that they would have some sort of Fuinjutsu expert in Konoha who could do it but having to cross so much territory with only the Byakugan available would be a lot tougher than if all her chakra were unsealed. Additionally, if she could find currency, then it was possible that she would be able to pay for food and water instead of having to steal or find it. She was having little luck when she found a scroll in one of his pouches. Thinking it to be orders or possibly useful information of some kind, she did not hesitate to open it. She was deeply surprised at its contents.

The scroll was written in what was clearly a code. She would not have to decipher this code, however, for she already knew it. It was a code that Konoha had used among genin during the Second Great Shinobi War, but that was not the importance of it. No, the significance of the code was that she had learned it during a lesson on Cryptology during her Academy days under Iruka-sensei. A lesson in which she could remember Naruto attending, for it was on the week of the Kyuubi festival. He always behaved much differently in the week before and after the festival, though she did not know why; he would get to class around the same time as her and sit in the back.

" _Hey Naruto, how are you doing today?"_

" _Oh, hello Hinata." He walked past her on his way to the rear of the room._

 _Hinata didn't really think about the fact that he ignored her question. He seemed very distracted. "I-is there a reason you want to sit in the back?"_

" _I just don't want to deal with it anymore." he said, looking towards the ground with a grimace on his face. "I don't think I will much longer."_

" _What do you mean?" she asked, wondering if he thought she was being annoying or something._

" _Never mind; forget I said anything."_

And she had forgotten the short conversation, until the scroll brought it back into her mind. At the time, it had certainly been peculiar but she had not assigned that much importance to it because she did not understand what Naruto was talking about. Now, however, after seeing that Naruto had run away from the village and seemed to hold a grudge against it, she began to understand that in some way the village and citizens of it had treated him in an abnormal way that caused him to resent it. But how did they treat him differently, and why? And did Naruto want her to remember that day of class? She began reading the scroll, as memories of the way to decrypt it came back to her.

 _Hinata, if you are reading this scroll then I presume that you have managed to kill the warden. First off, know that this is no great loss. I had entertained the idea of replacing him and am glad that it will finally be done. Should he have done his job correctly, he would have seen you were a Hyuuga, checked the clan registry, and been sure to seal your eyes. I have no pity for mediocrity. When I noticed this slip-up, I had thought to correct it but decided that this way should be more entertaining._

 _Do you remember how, when we were younger, you would watch me train? I never really understood why you would do that. You could have watched your father, could have watched Neji, could have chosen anybody else and you watched me. Yes, I had no idea why for the longest time, but now, when I saw you again and saw how highly you held my name in our little conversation, I think I understand it. You never treated me like the rest of the village. What did you see in me that nobody else could see, I wonder? And would you still see it in me today?_

 _As you return to Konoha, I advise you to stay in the southern portions of the desert as much as possible. You may find the area around to and including Suna to be unwelcoming to Konoha shinobi due to a period of governmental transition. I hope that you enjoyed your stay._

 _Shikage Naruto Uzumaki_

She rolled up the scroll and put it in a pouch she confiscated from the dead warden. There were many things to think about in relation to the scroll; obviously, Naruto had been rather convinced that she would escape if he had written the message in the first place. Additionally, it meant that Naruto had, in a roundabout way, allowed her to escape. The real question was: why? Why would he do that? Why would he write her this message? What exactly did he mean in the message anyway? It clearly meant that something was going on in Suna that she should be cautious of, but what about the middle portion. As if it was yesterday, she could remember when she had first been told that Naruto had disappeared. No matter how much she asked, not even Lady Tsunade would tell her more about what happened and she long ago stopped searching for answers. That did not mean, however, she had stopped thinking about it.

She spent a lot of time over the years wondering about the whereabouts of Naruto Uzumaki, praying he was healthy and safe, that no harm had come to him. It did not take long, however, for her to learn a simple truth: she was the only one among her friends who did care. Nobody else seemed bothered, nobody else seemed curious about his disappearance or even the least bit saddened besides Lady Tsunade and Shizune. Despite the fact that Naruto isolated himself mostly from the rest of their rookie group, he seemed to have his moments of companionship. Except, now that she thought about it, she was sure that he had never once interacted positively with Sakura in her presence. The thing she admired most about Naruto, however, was that no matter what he seemed to have supreme confidence in his own abilities and devoted himself wholeheartedly to his training. She wanted that confidence, wanted to train herself into the ground as he did, but she could never push herself into doing that in those days. Once Naruto was gone, she had determined that she would train as hard as him in his memory, and though she did not quite manage to reach the efforts that Naruto had, she had become much stronger through that process.

The more she thought about it, the more guilty she began to feel. She had seen the way that Naruto worsened, abandoning attempts at reaching out to others in favor of diving further into his own training. She tried to explain things away, to think that if he were actually changing for the worse, someone else would be there for him, someone like Tsunade or his sensei Kakashi. Instead of approaching him, offering him companionship as he continued to turn away from trusting anyone but himself, she had been too afraid and left it to others. Afraid that she would betray him in some way as others seemed to, afraid that her father would disapprove, and most of all, afraid that she would be rejected.

She broke her own train of thought, attempting to end the guilt. There was nothing she could do about it now; Naruto was too far gone. Then, she thought about the scroll, and realized that maybe she was wrong. Maybe there was still some hope for him, if only she could have gotten the chance to talk to him. But if he was doing something in Suna, then that meant Konoha would be against him, and she was a shinobi of Konoha before a friend to an enemy.

So why, then, did it feel slightly wrong?

She refocused herself, realizing she had wasted too much time on the process entirely. She needed to get back to Konoha as soon as possible; she had some valuable information about the identity of the Shikage, after all.

* * *

A/N: Here it is, next chapter. I hope you've all enjoyed it. Just so everyone knows: I've gone back to earlier chapters (Prologue through Chapter 4: The Meeting) and edited a few things to increase legibility. For the most part, they were incredibly slight edits such as combining small paragraphs that belonged together and changing a few words here and there. It is possible I will do a more substantial edit to them later. That said, Chapter 4: The Meeting was lengthened by a total of nearly 500 words. These changes have little bearing on the story, but were added in order to increase the detail of the chapter and make it a better read.

This chapter is, to my knowledge, the longest I have written thus far (for this story), and I hope you all will not mind it. Given the option of having the beginning of this chapter at the end of the last chapter or start of this one, I chose the start of this one. I can already feel that the Hinata interaction will be contentious, and all I will say on the matter is that interaction does not necessarily equal pairing in any of my stories. I will not promise anything one way or the other on that.

As always, thank you for reading. Please feel free to follow, favorite, review, or simply continue reading.


	13. Suna Conclusion

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 11

It was a rainy day in Konoha, though that was nothing particularly unusual for the time of year, and an unusual sight fell upon the village. A man with strange red hair being supported by two others and urgently heading toward the Hokage Tower. For many of the civilians, they remembered the man from the Chuunin Exams years ago in which he had been one of the strongest yet creepiest opponents. For them, it was a reminder of the day that Konoha had been attacked by one of its allies and thus the sight of him made them quite fearful of their safety. For shinobi, however, they all knew that man to have become the Kazekage and, seeing him being essentially carried and making a beeline for the Tower, they understood that something must have happened in Suna. For the majority of those shinobi, they cared little whether or not some catastrophe had befallen their allies; after all, those very allies had years earlier attempted to aid an invasion led by Orochimaru himself. They cared not for the political machinations that had tied the alliance back together and held their grudges without issue.

"Lady Hokage, the Kazekage has arrived. Identity confirmed."

"Thank you Captain. Dismissed."

She really should have quit this job a few years back, Tsunade thought to herself. Of course, there had been only one person she had ever intended to pass the job on to but that was probably never gonna be an option and she should have realized it then. Ignoring that option, that really only left Kakashi who was qualified in strength, cunning, and reputation for the position. Knowing him, however, she was sure that she could appoint him and it'd take a few years before he took the position. If the man was two hours late for a routine meeting, how late could he be to his own inauguration? She let herself laugh at the thought, before the seriousness of the situation surrounded her once more. Deciding to be prepared for the arrival of Gaara to her office, she forced herself to think of the events of the past two days.

It all started with a message that arrived from a worn-out Suna-nin those two evenings ago. It had not been encoded at all, much to her surprise, and there had even been blood dripped onto the scroll that soaked through. When she first read it, she was shocked and had the Kazekage's signature compared to prior examples just as additional assurance. All signs came back positive and she was forced to be the sitting Hokage as, for the first time in the history of the shinobi villages, one of the Kage had ordered a total retreat and an invasion of a great village was successful. Gaara was asking for permission for all Suna-nin, in addition to himself, to seek temporary refuge in the immediate outskirts of the village and to have free access to the village itself. She had written a quick response allowing for Suna-nin and any citizens from Suna to be granted refugee status and had issued an order to all shinobi not to initiate conflict with any Suna-nin in addition to demanding to see Gaara within a week's time. Assuming that the emergency was real, she had guessed that the man would be visiting as soon as possible. Clearly, she had been right.

The door opened and, through it, walked the mangled form of the Kazekage. Without hesitation she quickly made sure to mask any emotion that may have displayed across her face as a diplomatic nicety. It was a rough sight on the eyes, however, to see one of the five Kage wearing torn clothes with dried blood and scratches upon his face. To his credit, he did not seem to be much different than the other times they had met and had quite the stoic expression across his face despite his present condition. She presumed that he had come directly from Suna and had not even allowed him or his siblings with him the time to change clothes or rest at all. If memory served then reports had indicated the Kazekage had no issue skipping sleep for long periods of time. The two siblings who arrived with him left the room shortly after meeting his gaze for a moment.

"Greetings, Kazekage-sama."

"Thank you for having me, Hokage-sama."

"With pleasantries out of the way I believe we have important business to attend to."

"The attack was sudden and the enemy was first spotted from the West; Kamigakure I would presume." His voice was slow and careful, as it always was. "Despite the necessity of keeping our manpower in rotation as much as is reasonable, I did have three reconnaissance teams in that portion of the desert. They never reported anything and I can only presume that, somehow, they were all eliminated without a single one managing to send a report back. Their numbers were quite numerous; all in all, I would say that there were probably more than the total active shinobi of my village. They spread out in a large area, almost completely surrounding us except for a decently large portion in the direction of Konoha. Not knowing their strategy but presuming hostile intent, I raised an alarm and had all shinobi in the city put on immediate alert and sent out recall orders with as many messengers as I could muster. Not very long afterwards, we received reports that they were attacking in force along a portion of the wall; before I could do much with the information, I was attacked by two men. Somehow they must have been in the village before the first sightings of the enemy.

I determined that they were after me and I sent many of my men to reinforce the wall as necessary while having others clear the area. It took little effort for me to determine that they were capable opponents given their speed and constant awareness of their surroundings, but that they had little intent on killing me and showcased little in the way of unique talents. One used a high amount of fire jutsu and the other earth; I've written their descriptions and had sketches commissioned, but that portion of my unit was left behind temporarily in the rush. I was able to sense from the general atmosphere that the battle was going poorly and that I was needed urgently. In order to free myself from battle, I called upon the power of Shukaku. The power had barely been utilized when there was an attack from behind me of a strength that I have never felt before. It came from far away and cut a path of destruction through the village but, in that form, I was not able to react in time. It hit. The next thing I know, I had been escorted safely outside the village and given a status report upon awakening. Learning that the fighting had advanced well into the city and that initial casualty estimates were well against us, I ordered a total retreat of all forces to Konoha."

"I see." She had her hands folded in front of her, resting her chin upon them and doing her best to process the entirety of the information that she had been given. It was difficult to imagine that it was possible for a Kage, even one so young as Gaara, to be rendered unconscious in a single strike though she supposed that stranger things had happened in the past, but to imagine also that it could happen to a Kage with the additional power of a Jinchuuriki at their disposal was next to impossible. Beyond that, it seemed that the new hidden village which they had presumed would be little threat for several years had amassed a large army based upon Gaara's assumption of their numbers. "If you had to give a percentage, how many of your shinobi would you say were in the city during the attack?"

"Roughly half. I know your next question and I would say probably forty percent of those were incapacitated when I ordered the retreat. If the enemy pursued harshly, it's probably up to sixty. These are, of course, mere guesses." Higher than expected but not quite as bad as it could have been. Good, good, she could work with that. Unfortunately, not everyone who retreated or was out of the village would be coming to rejoin their allies in Konoha; there was no doubt after such a large-scale defeat and scattering of forces that a large number of them would become missing-nin instead, taking the opportunity to forge a new life somewhere else whether it be new hidden village or a civilian town. Rarely was a shinobi given the opportunity to escape amid such confusion and many of them would indeed take advantage. Additionally, there would be those who put all the blame onto the Kazekage and would leave the village blaming him for the events. Gaara, of course, also was aware of this fact but likely did prefer to not mention it.

"And what are your plans once your forces regroup outside of Konoha?"

"I will plan a counter-attack immediately." Tsunade presumed this already and was thinking it over in her head. From the initial expectations of the number of the opponents and first projections to the number of Suna-nin, it was well within reason that the combined forces of the remaining Suna-nin with a large scale invasion force from Konoha should be able to win a military victory against the enemy. She caught herself quickly in her way of thinking. No, that would be a mistake; they could not afford to underestimate the enemy again. The walls of Suna could prove a disastrous obstacle in the hands of a well-organized enemy expecting attack, especially an enemy with so little known about them.

"When we first got word of this new village and its leader, we sent an elite recon team. We underestimated them and one of our most promising jounin was captured and the entire team should have been killed. When Jiraiya heard about this new village, he went on a solo mission to find out more about its leader. He underestimated them and was killed. When we sent word to you of the information we first gathered, we had believed that the village would not be a threat for several years more. Another underestimation, this one assisting in leading to the current situation. While it may seem that a combined force from Konoha and Suna should be sufficient, it is clear that underestimating our opponent should not be an option."

"Hokage-sama, surely you are not suggesting we should not launch an offensive? My people will need this hope."

"No, of course not, I understand that clearly. I merely have an idea to get more involvement. Considering how unprecedented and surprising this news is, I think it should be enough to call for a Kage Summit. With any luck, it should only take a month to arrange things."

"I hope you also understand that every day my village is occupied is another day the people left behind may be suffering." Was he trying to guilt-trip her? That would never work.

"It is worth the precaution. I'm not sure there's a single Kage who won't be shaken by this news and if we only get one other to assist us then it will be worth it. Additionally, it means that each of us will lose less in the attack. There are also a few more reasons the Summit should be a good idea, in giving the other Kage the information needed to assist in the future fight against this new village even if they refuse to aid immediately."

"Very well" the younger Kage said, before changing the topic into discussing arrangements for his shinobi to stay outside the village. They would need tents, foods, medicine while Konoha would need some sort of agreement to be paid back for providing such.

* * *

"It's really no fun when they're running away, know what I mean?" he said, standing atop a tree and looking at the corpses on the ground, their blood flowing freely into the nearby river and turning the water red. The Suna-nin offered no resistance; they had not even ever been aware of his presence. All it took was one technique, and it was all over. Normally, he would not even have bothered to kill such useless and boring opponents but orders were orders after all. He looked forward to some of the promised challenges of the future.

"Jashin-sama, may you be honored at the opponents we have killed so far today and may we offer more in your name. I apologize that we did not force them into a more honorable defeat though they were unworthy of such mercies."

"You know what Ryuzaki? I think you've been around Hidan too much. Praying over the dead and offering them up? I mean, do you even know if that's the proper way to honor Jashin? Did you read a pamphlet or something?"

"I've seen Hidan-sama do such many times, of course, with a different choice of words. I chose to believe that was a quirk of character."

"Quirk? Please, that guy is seven hundred types of insane. If Shikage-sama didn't mention Jashin now and then I'd be convinced it was just a voice in his head telling him to be a lunatic."

"Yes, I can agree to that Higoshin. Well, we should probably be on the lookout for more enemies."

"Yeah yeah" they took to the trees together, side by side, neither looking as alert as they probably should have given the mission they found themselves on: to hunt down Suna-nin as they crossed the Land of Rivers to get to Konoha. They had been careful thus far, taking down only the more isolated individuals and small groups of stragglers. The orders said specifically not to engage in any large-scale battles and he supposed that their leader was erring on the side of caution in this instance. If they wanted to stay in the area and continue to pick off the enemy then it would be best for them to not get too overzealous. Even so, the enemy shinobi had not exactly been proven a challenge so far.

"I didn't think to ask you before, but you've been around since the beginning yeah?"

"You mean serving Shikage-sama? The beginning is perhaps a bit of a stretch, but it was quite early on. Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious about what you think about all this. You know, this invasion and such. Do you think we can actually pull it off?"

"Tough to say for sure. Of course we have many shinobi on our side in this effort but there's no way of knowing how many the enemy will have. I think it's safe to say based on what we know of these lands that we shall be outnumbered, but of course Shikage-sama would have known beforehand. For these reasons, I think our success depends upon doing our utmost to contribute as well as believing in the plans of Shikage-sama."

"You really think so huh? I mean, I understand that his strength is ridiculous but even for him it seems impossible."

"Not sure I would agree with that."

"And why's that?"

"I've seen a lot of action you know; haven't missed a single large battle since joining Shikage-sama. It is hard to think of the best way to word this; ah, I know. If memory serves, you fought with him once directly did you not? For the fate of your clan?"

He nodded his head, though was sure all he needed to do was lift up his shirt to reveal the large spherical scarring across his entire stomach. He still wasn't sure which organs inside him were actually his from birth. Not exactly sure how Ryuzaki was aware of that but supposed he should not be too surprised.

"When in a prolonged fight that has become desperate, there is something special about it. The way that focus increases and you reach inside yourself to demand more strength than you believe you have. When all else has failed, pushing yourself even further to try to steal victory away. Some shinobi become addicted to the rush of these kinds of fights and never stop seeking them out. I'm sure you must have felt it in your fight with Shikage-sama once it became obvious you were outclassed. During all the battles I've seen, I have yet to see him in such a desperate engagement. Don't get me wrong, I have seen him not hold back and I have seen him pushed hard, but I have never seen him pushed past his limit. How much stronger is a desperate yet determined shinobi? I'd bet that the only point in the fight you felt you had a chance was during that final surge, am I right?"

He thought about it a moment and realized that his strange partner did seem to have some kind of point. During that ill-fated fight, he had been unable to match his opponent's strength, speed, or jutsu and seemed to have only lasted as long as he did from pure willpower. After he had taken a few hits, understood that it was a fight heavily in favor against him, only then did he manage to force himself to perform at a level above what he had ever done before. Unfortunately, it had not been enough and he was lucky to have even been somehow kept alive afterwards.

"I guess that makes a bit of sense. Man, wonder what it would take for someone like Shikage-sama to be pushed past his limits. I bet he craves it, the thrill of a struggle. Do you think that's part of the reason we're doing this?"

"It is possible."

"Maybe a man like him doesn't even have a limit."

"Maybe he's not a man at all." A quick spark went through his partner's eyes. "Three of them. They're mine. Oh Jashin-sama, I call upon you to help me take the blood of the opponents as I offer death in your name..."

He rolled his eyes at his partner's antics. Of course he'd get paired up with the Hidan imitator among the Shugoshin. At least it was not as bad as getting teamed with Hidan himself; somehow, someway, that guy was going to say something eventually that made Shikage-sama tear apart the man's limbs and spread them among the continent and he did not want to be part of that. He thought about the other members of the Shugoshin group and started to feel at least a little bit thankful that his partner was not the strangest among them. Watching the Suna-nin die so quickly, he let himself smile. Certainly not the weakest either.

* * *

A/N: Apologies for the long delay. I had quite the inspiration for my other story and it absorbed a lot of my writing time. Afterwards, I began to get a new story idea (they are the bane of my existence, honestly) and I was so worked up over it I went ahead and wrote three chapters (though it will *likely* never see the light of day). Once that flurry calmed down, I started back writing for this one and I am pretty happy with the results. With this chapter this shall be my first story to surpass 50,000 words, and I am pretty happy about that little achievement.

After last chapter, I got some pretty flame-ish reviews but I am perfectly okay with that; I've got thick skin. That said, thank you everyone for providing positive and/or constructive reviews; I really do appreciate it. Hopefully we'll break 50 reviews with this chapter and, considering how much story there is left to tell, that makes me quite excited for the road ahead!

Will there be a Five Kage Summit? And will it go better than it did in canon?

As always, thank you for reading. Feel free to follow, favorite, review, or just continue reading.


	14. Kage Summit Begins

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Kishimoto does. And I thank him for coming up with the characters and world that I can use to write stories.

"I thank you all for being able to attend this summit of the Five Kage. Truly, it is an exceptional show of diplomacy in and of itself to have all of you in the same room."

"Thank you for having us Mifune" Tsunade said, with a bow, as she took a seat. "I cannot say enough how grateful I am to you for agreeing to host this Summit." The man bowed his head in response to her compliment. The fact that she had found someone willing to be the host of a Summit and that all of the Kage had actually shown up were as much a victory as she could really expect from the meeting, but she was going to certainly try her best to get the other Kage to understand the importance of working together in this matter.

"Hmmph, enough of these pleasantries. It takes some kind of gall for you to take this time out of our schedules, Tsunade." She was not particularly surprised that the Tsuchikage would be complaining about anything to do with her request; undoubtedly he thought that anyone who served less time in the office than him was unqualified to call for a Summit. That Ohnoki always has been a grumpy old man. By his side were his long-time bodyguard Akatsuchi, a man reported to be his shield and a trusted unofficial adviser, in addition to his granddaughter Kurotsuchi.

Another man growled. "Forget about that; what is the Kazekage doing here when his village has been attacked? For a Kage to be attending a meeting so soon after such an event is disgraceful!" The tall and muscular Ay, the Yondaime Raikage, was never known to be a man of particular nicety and diplomacy, that was certain.

"Hokage-sama wished to hold the meeting before she would commit Konoha to a counter-attack" Kazekage Gaara said evenly, his two siblings by his side for the meeting.

"Now now, perhaps we should listen to the reports of the Hokage and Kazekage instead of being so uncivil. I for one want to know more about these unknown attackers." Mei Terumi, the Godaime Mizukage, said with a smirk on her face. Her bodyguards were odd, with one of them wearing bandaging over his eye while the other was clearly meant to be one of the Seven Swordsmen. It seemed that Ay and Ohnoki could at least agree to wanting to know more so they settled in their seats without causing further disturbance.

"Yes, Mizukage-sama is correct. One of the five great villages has suffered a devastating defeat and occupation at the hands of an unknown enemy, and I highly doubt that Hokage-sama would have called for a meeting to be held merely one month later if it were not of utmost importance. Please, let us not waste any additional time." Mifune said, getting the assembled Kage to establish a more serious and formal atmosphere.

"The reason I have called for a Kage Summit is simple." Tsunade began, getting their attention. "As all of you are probably aware, the lands west of the Suna Desert have gone through a great change in these past few years. I would guess, however, that you do not know the extent."

"The recon teams I've sent out have been lost with no word back" said Ohnoki, to which Tsunade nodded.

"These Western lands used to be nothing more than a series of sparring clans, not very different at all from the period before our own villages formed. At some point between Orochimaru's attack on Konoha and the attack on Suna, however, this situation was made irrelevant. Just as the many clans of these lands united to form the shinobi villages, so to were the clans of the western nations with one key difference. While ours, for the most part, formed peacefully, their village was formed as a result of war and conquest. Based on our intelligence, we have reason to believe that this conquest was led by someone from the Elemental Nations, likely a missing-nin, who has titled himself as the Shikage and has constructed a village by the name of Kamigakure. Based on the reports of Kazekage-sama, I can say with absolute certainty that it is this group that attacked Suna."

"Very interesting; what more do we know of this 'Kamigakure'?" Mei asked

"Not as much as we would like. Our reports did indicate that their village sign appears to be the symbol most associated with Jashinism, and it does line up with the fact that Hidan of Yugakure had not been spotted in some years prior to our discovery of this circumstance. It is our strong belief that Hidan is associated in this in some way, as part of a group of elite ninja known as Shugoshin as reported by a recon team led by one Shikamaru Nara. Unfortunately, further reconnaissance efforts have proven to be less than successful, and we even lost Jiraiya when he tried to uncover the identity of the Shikage." It still pained her to think about.

"What do we know about the numerical strength of this new entity?" This was good, it seemed like the Tsuchikage was getting interested in the subject.

"Our reports so far are sketchy on the total numbers, due to the fact that they launched a quick and decisive surprise attack. The best guess that we can say and feel confidence in is between eighteen-thousand and twenty-four thousand." This caused a number of eyes to widen around the room, and Tsunade could understand why. That was more than any one village could afford to use in one force by several thousand, even in the low estimate it was approximately equal to Konoha. While they had more, there was a certain amount always needed to guard the village and to help maintain the economy by doing missions. "This is, of course, just the force that attacked Suna and we know nothing if they have more shinobi elsewhere. It is safe to presume there is some sort of home guard but no intel has been gathered in that regard."

"This information is very interesting, but it's not the only reason you wanted this meeting now is it?" Apparently the Raikage was not all muscle after all.

"No. Seeing as how this new enemy poses a threat to the stability of the entire Elemental Nations, I believe it should be a unified force of all our shinobi that rises to meet it. Konoha is willing to supply ten-thousand shinobi, among which will be many of our most elite, to this force with the purpose of ending the occupation of Sunagakure; Kazekage Gaara is willing to commit all of his active and able shinobi to this force, roughly equaling that same number. If each of you would be willing to commit a number of your own shinobi to this force then we will be able to send a message of resounding strength in the face of this sudden opponent. If you do not, then the Elemental Nations as we know it may be at an end." It was good to play on the Kage's natural love for stability in order to gain their support. Stability was safe and assuring, when you knew who your enemies were and their likely capabilities. Though none of them would ever admit it, she knew that they were not pleased to hear about Suna's occupation.

"You certainly raise an interesting point on this matter, Tsunade. How do we know, however, that this Kamigakure does not simply see Suna as their enemy? Or perhaps Konoha? Why should we put our shinobi on the line?"

"Because we cannot know that. The attack on Suna came entirely unprovoked; why should it be different for anyone else? Perhaps their next target is not Konoha; perhaps it is somewhere else. Even if there is no next target, can we be satisfied to allow this force to occupy one of the five great villages? To let such a strong opponent who has made no diplomatic outreach bide their time? There are too many unknowns in all of this and you know that, don't you Tsuchikage-sama?" There was the slightest hint of a smirk on her face despite her attempts to hide it.

"Even so, to expect for us to send our own shinobi to aid your alliance is completely out of the question!" the Raikage said, forcefully.

"It is the best possible way to deal with the situation, the one that involves the least possible risk for everyone involved. If the counter-attack should somehow fail, if it were only Konoha and Suna participating then it would be impossible to limit their continued expansion. Imagine this new opponent, with unknown resource reserves in the West in addition to complete control over the Land of Wind's resources. They would become even stronger and already they are capable of forming an invasion force with more shinobi than a single village could match at once. If we all participate, we have better chances and put less on the line."

A samurai burst through the door and, though Mifune gave him a look that could turn most human beings into stone, he did not hesitate to run straight toward his leader and whisper something into his ear.

"Hokage-sama, it would appear you have a visitor who is requesting to be admitted to this room."

"Odd. Is he one of my shinobi?" The messenger whispered once more into Mifune's ear.

"He wears no headband and bears no affiliation; he also gave no name. Apparently, he says to have information on the Shikage."

Her eyes widened immediately at the news; that was something exceptional. Besides a few people in Konoha, Suna, and the rest of the people now in the room with her, the information regarding the existence of the Shikage had been kept a tight-lipped secret in the Elemental Nations. It helped that the Shikage seemed to be ensuring that as little information left from the West as possible, of course. Could it really be possible that someone, not one of her shinobi, could have information regarding the subject? Yes, anything was possible.

"Have him detained and seal his chakra; I'll talk to him later." As interesting as it was, she could not exactly just allow this man into the meeting room of the Five Kage Summit.

"Very well." The messenger left the room.

"Right, anyway, as I was saying, a united shinobi force should be assembled to crush this new and foreign enemy. Any thoughts?"

"It is bad enough for the Kazekage to have not died defending his village, and for him to be here when it is occupied. Why should my shinobi put their lives on the line when it is clear the Kazekage has not?"

"I was defeated, Raikage-sama. My injuries prevented me from further participation. The only reasonable action was to fight again another day." There was the slightest hint of annoyance in Gaara's voice and she was unsure if anyone else in the room was familiar enough with his regular tone to note the difference. "I can assure you that I will personally be on the frontlines once the attack is launched. This time the enemy shall not have the element of surprise. All of my shinobi will know what they are fighting for; we will not lose, it is only a matter of who shall win with us."

"Hmm, high talk coming from such a young Kage" Ohnoki said with a sneer.

"I must admit that I am intrigued by this idea" Mei interrupted, catching everyone by surprise. "While Suna has never been a particular friend to us, neither have they been an enemy. Their occupation is certainly a tragedy and I am not sure I can stand to be the Mizukage who does nothing as the wheels of history drive forward." Most likely, the woman was attempting to re-establish Mizu as a competently lead fighting force following their civil war and wanted to show that they were willing to entertain the idea of a fight. There was a sudden explosion which occurred far outside the room, before a different samurai messenger came running through the door.

"Mifune-sama, the mysterious stranger has resisted arrest and is attacking our samurai." The man said, his calm voice betrayed by his frantic breathing.

"It is just one man; why must I be informed?" Mifune said, starting to wonder if hosting this Kage Summit was his best idea. He had thought it would be a good way to get in the good graces of all the great ninja villages but if his own men kept interrupting the meeting for no reason then he was bound to be getting on their nerves.

"We've already had one-hundred men incapacitated; thankfully, of those we've checked there are zero deaths. Even fighting like that the stranger has not been scratched."

"Swan, I want you to aid the samurai" Tsunade said to one of her two ANBU guards. While the other Kage seemed to have their personal favorites as bodyguards at this meeting, she used the tried-and-true ANBU Hokage guard unit. Two of them were here with her and two of them were in the temporary lodging alongside Shizune. They were more than a match for the vast majority of any opponent and she wanted to try to restore order as soon as possible or else the entire outcome of the Summit could be in jeopardy. The ANBU guard left the room and the five village leaders returned to their discussion.

"I understand that there does seem sufficient reason to be worried about this so-called 'Kamigakure;' however, participating in a large-scale attack would be quite an expensive outing. If we were to be compensated then I could see the benefit." Of course Ohnoki would want something aside from eliminating a major threat to all of them.

"Konoha is already spending more than it would like to in order to accommodate the Suna refugees; I do not think there is financial compensation that we can pay."

"Of course; Suna, on the other hand..."

"You would dare try to use the suffering of my people to benefit your own?" Gaara said, anger resonating quite clearly in his voice.

"Well I must admit, when you put it that way, it sounds like I'm nothing but a cruel man. What if we were to term it as paying for the usage of my shinobi? Isn't that reasonable? It's what happens every day in all of our villages anyway."

"I'm afraid that is out of the question. Suna will need all of its resources for the battle ahead and to rebuild whatever is damaged in the city in addition to restoring its shinobi." She did not want to say anything too forthcoming, but a part of her was very worried that Suna would no longer even be a top five shinobi village after the upcoming battle, especially if it were just Suna and Konoha in the fight.

"Then you can consider my aid out of the question."

There was a sudden thundering sound and then a force shook the room as someone was thrown through the door, breaking it open entirely with their body. As the dust cleared, shock overcome her upon seeing the mask of the very ANBU she had sent to deal with the intruder. She could immediately tell that he was alive but his breathing was obviously labored. Apparently the intruder had been strong enough to deal with one of her personal bodyguard; that meant he could be very dangerous indeed. She rushed over to the downed man, immediately rushing to heal his most critical wounds to at least make sure he was stabilized.

"My apologies Hokage-sama. Believe me, I did want to meet with everyone under better circumstances." That voice sounded so eerily familiar; certainly she heard it somewhere before. That's when she looked outside the door and, though no one had been in her periphery, there was suddenly a man standing there. A man, with blond hair, blue eyes, and unmistakable birthmarks on his face.

"N-Naruto? Wha-how-why… it's you? Why didn't you just say so?" The force of the surprise was so great that it felt like the breath had been knocked out of her. When she had last seen him, Naruto had been that troubled young boy who seemed to get past everything and continue driving himself forward despite it all. He had inspired her to try to get over her own troubled past, the way that the child never backed down and took a beating but was always willing to keep fighting no matter the odds. She could still vividly remember the last time they talked.

" _Ready for your little trip, brat?" she asked, sitting comfortably behind her desk talking to Naruto on the morning Jiraiya had arranged to take him on a training trip. The man was convinced that getting outside the village could do nothing but help Naruto's growth and get his mind off of more negative things. Additionally it would be much safer to delve into the Kyuubi's chakra further away from Konoha where it would be less familiar._

" _Yeah, I guess so."_

" _I thought you'd be more excited to leave for a bit."_

" _It's not that. It's just… I think about what I'm leaving behind and I guess it sours the mood, ya know?"_

" _Oh, and what are you leaving behind?" she said, curious to know what exactly the kid valued highly besides his own training._

 _He sat in silence, head in his hands looking down for a moment, before he answered. "Nothing."_

" _Hmph, always so over-dramatic Naruto. Seems you're learning a lot from Jiraiya already."_

"It's been a long time, Tsunade."

"Hokage-sama, you mean to say that you actually know this assailant?" Mifune looked rather furiously toward Naruto, hand on the hilt of his sword ready to draw it. As Naruto walked through the broken door and stepped into the room for all to see, all the Kage's bodyguards were visibly tensed and ready to spring into action at a moment's notice while all the Kage appeared to be perfectly calm though undoubtedly also prepared should they need to engage in combat.

"Such a harsh word. I intended to make a peaceful appearance here at this Kage summit and there was an attempt to arrest me. Am I to presume that there were similar arrests for your other guests?"

Part of her wanted to stand up and to hug Naruto, elated to see him after all these years of worry and assuming the worst. The fact that he had wounded one of her own personal bodyguard meant nothing in the instance of looking upon his face once more. She was stopped, however, by the look in his eyes. Those eyes were not the clouded and confused pair that she had grown accustomed to seeing in his youth; no, now they were more determined and calculating. It even seemed that the very blue within them was darker than it once had been.

"Of course not; my other guests are the Five Kage and their guards."

"You dare to put yourself on the level of the Kage, boy?" Ohnoki said, not liking some young stranger appearing out of nowhere and equating himself to the leader of the great village of Iwagakure.

"A silly question. Me, on the same level as the five of you? I would never stoop so low." Ay's hands clenched onto the table and it seemed like the man was poised to leap into action. "Now now, there is no need for a fight. As I said, I've come here on a peaceful diplomatic mission representing my village."

"What do you mean 'your village'?" Tsunade managed to ask, standing up after finishing the initial treatment of Swan. For Naruto to show up after all these years and presume to be an ambassador of Konoha was outrageous, even for him. Was it possible, then, that he had defected? Yes, yes, of course it was possible, he'd been gone for almost nine years. She needed to try to start thinking clearly again; she'd been blindsided by his appearance but she still had a job as Hokage to do and if she looked weak in front of the other Kage now it could be disastrous later.

"I have come here, as the Shodaime Shikage of Kamigakure, to request a seat at this Kage Summit." He had a smirk on his face as all the energy was sucked out of the room. Tsunade felt like she had been sucker-punched in the stomach once again. It wasn't really possible, was it?

"And I suppose you have evidence that you are, in-fact, the so-called Shikage?" Mei asked, giving voice to what the rest of them were thinking. He reached into a pouch on his side and pulled out a mask, causing Tsunade to go wide-eyed at the sight.

"T-that's the mask Shikamaru identified. It's true." There could be no mistake; every feature that Shikamaru had made sure to explain in detail was there clearly. She was having a hard time making sense of this situation.

"Now, am I permitted a seat?"

"Are we actually supposed to believe that the mysterious Shikage, whom has never been seen and whom should have no knowledge of this meeting, would come here and reveal his identity? Outrageous." Ohnoki said, bring back a semblance of calm and normalcy to the meeting as the other Kage thought about his words.

Naruto sighed, still having a slight smirk on his face that was beginning to irritate the gathered leaders. "I suppose you raise a fair point. I am sure your words will be seen as a beacon of hope to all the beleaguered citizens of Suna living under my control, even to their last breaths." The threat rang clear throughout the room, not a single person missing the implication.

"Naruto Uzumaki, if you think you can use my citizens as hostages then let us make one thing clear: They may die, but in return, I will kill you."

"My my, so much hostility in those words Gaara. I would hate to have to fight you; though, as I recall, I'm two-for-two against you. Maybe the third time's a charm?" Gaara, though he was known for his ability to avoid facial expressions, ticked his eye in obvious anger at the way he was being talked to. "I am the one who allowed the Yamanaka to return to Konoha with a report on Kamigakure, I captured Hinata Hyuuga and allowed Shikamaru and Ino to return, and I am the one who used the jutsu that defeated Gaara's Shukaku form. Is this information satisfactory to prove my identity?"

How else could it be possible that Naruto knew all these things if he were not telling the truth? The doubts were starting to clear from her mind but it still felt surreal. Everyone was looking at her, as if for some confirmation of the first two claims, and she nodded her head despite still being in a daze.

"You will not be allowed an official seat at this summit due to the unprovoked attack of Suna; however, if you have something you wish to discuss then I shall raise no objections." Mifune said, to which the Kage reluctantly agreed. Naruto's smirk on his face grew ever so slightly, as if everything was going according to some plan that he had envisioned.

* * *

A/N: Of course I would post an update on the 1-year anniversary of the story! I'm sentimental that way. This is the 1st half of the Kage Summit meeting and I hope you'll find it a mostly believable transaction among the Kage. Naruto, of course, had to make his entrance in dramatic fashion as he is keen to do. Another quick glance into his childhood that I hope you enjoyed (I can practically see the Anime-style flashbacks in my head when I'm writing them). The next chapter will be posted very shortly.

Why has Naruto shown up at this meeting? What could he possibly hope to gain? Why would he reveal his identity to the Kage?

As always, thank you for reading. Thanks for all the support I've gotten over the past year; it's been incredible. Over 50,000 words already and who knows how much longer it will go? Personally, I've been thinking that probably 150k or so seems to be about reasonable (then again, we're only at 50k and there's so much left to tell!). But, who knows, maybe when this story ends a new one begins? Please feel free to follow, favorite, review, or just continuing to read!


	15. Kage Summit Conclusion

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 13

Naruto stood before the Five Kage of the Elemental Nations, looking as comfortable and commanding as a jounin looking upon a genin team. He stood perfectly straight, eyes roaming the roam and freely meeting the eyes of all the other leaders as if to further assure them that he held no fear of them. In fact, it seemed like he even enjoyed the idea of standing as they sat despite his prior desire to be given a seat for the Summit.

"I suppose you expect me to say why I've come to this meeting, or how I knew about it in the first place. For the latter, I am certainly not at liberty to say. I mean, would any of you be so forthcoming with how your spies gathered information? Certainly not. As to the former, I guessed that the meeting would have a lot to do with me and I hardly wanted for any false rumors to be spread. I'm right though, aren't I? You all were discussing the vicious attack on Sunagakure by the Shikage and the mysterious new village of Kamigakure and the best course of action, and Tsunade was finally sharing information that she's had access to for months now. Please, let us resume."

"Quite right. I believe we were discussing making a united shinobi force of all five villages to crush the invaders, correct?" Ohnoki said, a gleam in his eye, enjoying the ability to threaten the arrogant newcomer.

"I believe you are exaggerating, Ohnoki. A child has more reason to fear the monsters under their bed than I have to fear the five of you working together." The man seemed visibly outraged at the usage of his first name as opposed to his title.

"I think a more reasonable line of discussion would be this: why would you attack Suna in the first place?" the Mizukage asked, once again bringing everyone back on topic.

"Of course; a much more engaging topic. I suppose one of the main reasons I chose to invade Suna is to cause a little uproar. The mere existence of this Summit shows that I succeeded on that front. The first Kage Summit since the time of the Shodaime Hokage, and it is called on my behalf? I must admit, though, the opportunity for all the Kage to be my audience was mostly an unexpected benefit. Maybe it was just a fun way to reintroduce myself to the Elemental Nations? Perhaps, even, I simply felt like it. Yes, I think all of those things probably played a role."

"If you wanted to speak to the Five Kage then perhaps you should use your words in a meaningful way."

"Of course, of course. You are correct, Ay. What do you want me to say? What other choice did I have? Suna was in the way and that's the end of the story. It made no difference to me that it was Suna."

"And should we take that to mean you would have attacked any of us?"

"You catch on quickly, Ohnoki. Were any other village in the position of controlling the only land route to the West then they would have found themselves in the same unenviable position. There's really no reason to get so worked up about it; now that I have Suna and, by extension, most of the Land of Wind under my control there's no point in the fighting to continue. Let's face it: Sunagakure has been on a downward spiral. Their economy is stagnant, the Wind Daimyo prefers to use alternatives whenever possible, and they participated in a failed invasion of Konoha after they allowed their very own Kazekage to be killed. A village incapable of recognizing when their own Kage was replaced; disgraceful. What I have done is simply hasten their decline."

"You talk as if I am not here and Suna is not represented, Naruto. If you think that I shall allow you..."

"Do not hold pretenses with me, Gaara. I know why you became the Kazekage and it has nothing to do with the village, its citizens, or its shinobi. At any given moment those are never what's on your mind. You became Kazekage to spite your father, didn't you? Because he saw you as a monster but died before you could challenge him yourself, the only way there was to get back at him was to become the leader of his village. Do you remember Gaara, that chat we had in the forest all that time back? I know that I'm right; I know you very well. The two of us, Gaara, we are very similar; both Jinchuuriki, both the sons of Kage. You have little control over your tailed beast and no desire to be a Kage. There is little reason for the two of us to continue to be enemies when I believe we could work quite well together." Naruto was staring directly into Gaara's eyes, as if trying to find a way to make his words reach straight into the man's soul or to somehow increase their truthfulness.

"A Jinchuuriki?" "Son of a Kage?" Ay and Ohnoki said, simultaneously, seeming to miss the last part of Naruto's statements entirely. They turned to Tsunade whom, at this point, was still attempting to recover her thoughts.

"Yes, it's true. Naruto is the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi as well as being the son of Minato Namikaze. Oh, and also apparently a former Konoha-nin if you had not picked up on that. Tell me, Naruto, if you do nothing else to honor your former self, how did you learn of Minato?" She sounded bitter, exactly like a stereotypical grouchy old woman who was angry at the world. It made her feel disgusted but she could not distinguish if she was disgusted at the display her former surrogate grandson was putting on or herself.

"Jashin-sama." He said, little hesitation and completely straight-faced.

"Preposterous. You're simply trying to manipulate us into affecting our actions based on that little statement." The Mizukage said.

"Accept or reject my answer; I don't care either way. The opinions of a few arrogant Kage matter little to me."

"Oh, and we are arrogant compared to you who would seek to steal the spotlight of this Summit for yourself? You who would talk down to the Kage?"

"Do you know who determines the history of the world? Who drives it forward and changes it?" Naruto said, seeming to completely change the topic. "It is not the average citizen; no, they are content to live a mediocre life so long as they are able to get by. It is not the average shinobi for they are happy so long as they get paid for a mission completed. In order to change the world you need two things in abundant supply: vision and strength. Those who have vision but lack strength are often changed harshly by the world around them as they succumb to the feeling that they cannot change anything, or they are killed far before they achieve their vision. Those who lack vision but have strength are contented to become jounin, ANBU, or missing-nin and to live their lives knowing no satisfaction other than that of a quality fight and a high pay-out for their services. These people will never change anything; they will simply ebb and flow along with the status quo. A select few, possessing both strength and vision, may become Kage. There is a flaw, however, inherent to the traditional Kage titles that you all possess. The Kage have their vision bound by the Daimyo, a single individual possessing neither and owing all their success in life to the nobility of their birth. To those who would submit themselves to the whims of others, to those who would put the lives of their shinobi on the line because a Daimyo has decided it, I have little respect.

The last man to truly change the world..." Naruto continued, before anyone could interrupt, "was Hashirama Senju. Unfortunately, his power far outweighed his vision. He did not foresee the Daimyo using the ninja villages as their personal weapons or at least did not perceive it to be an issue. He bound Konoha to the Fire Daimyo and, of course, the other villages followed afterwards in his example with their respective Daimyo. An alliance of convenience wherein the shinobi villages could be the military arm of the already established nations and thus deal little in politics or administration relative to the Daimyo and the Daimyo need worry little about protection thanks to the village. All of you merely live in the shadow of the world that Hashirama created, doing nothing to excise the negative aspects but willing to fight wars to protect it."

"You should not presume to know the will of my grandfather!" Tsunade said forcefully, her ire and will awakened by the usage of Hashirama's ideals in a way she felt was improper. "He knew fully well that no one person could be entrusted with so much power. Not only is power too corrupting an influence to be accumulated by one individual but the responsibilities would be overwhelming."

"And there I would disagree with him. Power is too corrupting an influence to be diluted; the more people with access to power, the more likely it is that some of them will be tainted by it. Therefore, the best possible solution is to control its distribution as much as is possible and ensuring those distributing it are deserving of the responsibility. Anyway, forgive me for rambling; all that I meant to say is that I have less respect for you than you are accustomed to because I do not believe any of you to have the vision or strength necessary to shape the world."

"Hmmph, is that so? And I'm sure that, according to your own interpretation, that you are the most qualified? I've heard a fair number of these things in my day so forgive me if I'm not more surprised."

"It is only my interpretation; you are free to dismiss it though I'm sure you recognize some truth."

"What do you mean we don't have the strength?" Ay said, looking much more annoyed compared to the calm and stoic, if not somewhat smug, face of Ohnoki.

"I believe this has gotten off-topic; as I said, I come here on diplomatic terms. I am willing to accept the full surrender of Sunagakure on the following conditions. Number one: all remaining shinobi loyal to Suna will be subject to a loyalty and compatibility test on behalf of Kamigakure. Condition number two: Kazekage Gaara must relinquish his title and allow all its privileges to be under the control of the Shikage, me. Condition number three: Kazekage Gaara will allow himself to be taken into custody peacefully. Now, should these conditions be met…"

"That will not happen."

"My my, so stubborn Gaara. We've already been over this; you do not care one way or the other what happens to you, that village, or its citizens so stop this facade of yours."

"In my mind, this raises another question: could it be possible to negotiate for you to relinquish Sunagakure peacefully? Obviously you would have to apologize for the loss of life but Konoha would be open to talks along this route."

"Absolutely not; to give up control would be a disgrace to all the shinobi who fought so hard to capture it and the many more shinobi who were killed defending it. If you are still afraid of blood, Tsunade, then I feel the coming months may be difficult for you." She felt a shiver run down her spine at the cruel delivery of the words; what had happened to Naruto, how had it all come to this? Was there still a way to salvage the situation without guaranteeing bloodshed? No, no, of course not; she could not allow herself to be swayed by the fact that Naruto was the opposition.

"I've had quite enough of this; you interrupt this meeting and then demean its members, showing no respect for them? I, Ohnoki, Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, will hereby announce my support for a United Shinobi Force to be assembled for the purposes of liberating Sunagakure, and pledge four-thousand shinobi toward its number." Everyone was quite surprised to know the famous fence-sitter would be willing to be the first one forward of the three non-aligned Kage though many were curious if the revelation that the man before them was the son of Minato Namikaze played a part in the decision.

"I, Mei Terumi, Mizukage of Kirigakure, will also announce support and shall pledge five-thousand shinobi."

"Hmph; it is an absolutely disgraceful thing for this force to even need be assembled. For a village and its ally, two of the five great villages, to come before the Five Kage asking for help is unheard of and wreaks of cowardice. Nevertheless, I shall pledge three-thousand of my shinobi to the force on the condition that I be allowed to join them." That was a surprising condition to hear; for the Raikage himself to wish to be allowed to participate in in the attack was nothing that anyone expected.

"May I assume Konoha and Suna to be under their prior offer?" Both Tsunade and Gaara nodded. "Very well; as mediator of the Kage Summit called forth by Godaime Hokage Tsunade Senju, I hereby announce the creation of a United Shinobi Force to be formed with the sole purpose of regaining control of Suna. All Kage directly participating shall be considered equal in leadership while those not shall defer committed shinobi for the time of the task. Does this sound fair?" Mifune was looking out the sides of his eyes toward Naruto, and Naruto could tell. It was easy to feel the tension in the room during the latest development and it was obvious they wanted to draw a reaction from him. He would give them no such pleasure. All the Kage, Ohnoki the most reluctant despite his burst of eagerness earlier, acceded with a "Hai".

"I have two things to say. Gaara, if you should fight me again, I assure you that this time I will not allow you to live. In the meantime, so long as you do not harm any of my shinobi, then you are still given the offer of joining my cause. Secondly, participating in an attack directed towards me, my shinobi, or the lands under my control shall be considered an act of war and will be met with any response deemed appropriate by myself." He let a smile form on his face as he recalled the events of the meeting. "You have been an excellent audience." With a quick substitution jutsu, Naruto was replaced by a shadow clone who immediately dispelled himself.

He appeared in the woods a fair distance from the Summit meeting and began his journey back to the temporary headquarters outside of Suna, taking no time to acknowledge his traveling companion.

"Did the meeting go well, Shikage-sama?" asked one Kenchi Okoya, one of his generals and member of his bodyguard who had been tasked with guarding the shadow clone used for the substitution. Of course, even a shadow clone of himself was more than a match for the vast majority of shinobi but some risks were too unnecessary to justify taking.

"Yes, Kenchi, I do believe that things went mostly as planned. Perhaps they were more willing to be pushed into cooperation than anticipated but that is no significant matter."

"I still cannot possibly understand how having the five strongest villages of these lands united could make the task easier."

"You have always been more tactician than strategist or leader of men, Kenchi. These villages are not meant to work together, are not capable of doing it well. When shinobi from all of them gather then only one thing is certain: chaos. They see the advantages: more supplies, more shinobi, less total risk. They do not, however, think of the disadvantages: no coordination, long-standing tensions, rivalry, divided leadership, and attacking well-prepared enemies. Though they are under the idea they will be working together, in reality, their combined forces will have extremely low morale, tear each other down and, when we defeat them, shall plunge the entire Elemental Nations into chaos as the bell tolls on the rule of the Five Villages. In any normal circumstance they almost certainly would have thought of these things before committing their forces. That is why I made sure they would not be normal circumstances."

"And how did you do that?"

"The first thing I did was to not show them any respect and to treat them as if they were below me. Make no mistake, the five kage are not opponents to be trifled with but this was necessary for my purposes. I revealed some information about myself; one piece of it will have greatly discouraged the Tsuchikage as well as made the Raikage more combative while the fact that I am a Jinchuuriki will have surely unsettled the Mizukage, whose last Jinchuuriki Kage started a bloody war, and the Raikage who counts his own brother as a Jinchuuriki. Additionally, it creates a distrust among them due to the fact that I offered the Kazekage, himself a Jinchuuriki, the chance to join me and they will fear the possibility due to their innate fear of the tailed beasts and all that they do not know about them. I also added in a speech about the Daimyo to give them a hint that I was innately opposed to all of them while also giving them a plausible cause for my action following a vague explanation of the Suna attack. To win in all things one must take the offensive; my offensive was to interrupt their meeting and give them an opponent they could all fear in some way."

"I shall trust you to be correct, Shikage-sama."

"Based on the numbers I heard, we can expect likely around thirty-five thousand enemy troops to participate in their first coordinated group efforts. We have, at the very least, a month before they start making their moves though I suspect at least two months. If they were not together, we could still expect thirty thousand enemies but they would be able to act quicker. Additionally, based on the fact they were willing to state their number and purpose in front of me, we can expect arrogance on their parts. We can expect that our experience with large-scale battles shall give us some advantage in fighting an opponent that's not seen true war in decades but obviously that is not something to rely on when at all possible."

"In the meantime, am I correct to assume you've already thought of a battle plan?"

"You know me well, Kenchi." Naruto said, with a smile before quickly eliminating it. "Tell me, and answer honestly, do you believe I have acted differently in the past months?"

"Yes, Shikage-sama. You've become more talkative and more open with your plans. I believe that, now that you are beginning to in some way confront your past, it is having an effect on you. Prior to entering the Elemental Nations you never would have asked me that question."

Naruto gave that a moment of thought. For so long he had been away from Konoha, from everyone he had known throughout his childhood. And now, as if a switch was flipped, he was beginning to deal with them more and more, whether it be Hinata, Jiraiya, or Tsunade. The past is an unavoidable aspect of life; he knew this, so why did it feel like he's encountering something he preferred to forget about? It did not make any real sense to him, and he realized now that it bothered him. With a moment of clarity, he resolved to find some way to work it out. He needed to make sure his mind was as clear as possible if he was going to actually succeed in the grand scheme of events.

"Regardless, we have many preparations to make if we are to greet our opponents in a proper fashion." With a single handsign he created ten clones who dispersed in pairs of two without need of another word. "For now, as we prepare for the upcoming battle, these clones will get into contact with the leaders of the closest minor villages." Naruto did not find it important to mention that only three of the pairs would be going to Kusagakure, Tanigakure, and Amegakure while the other two had an entirely different purpose for existing. After all, there were many things his subordinates did not need to know.

* * *

A/N: Here it is, the conclusion of the Kage Summit! It took a little longer to post than I would have liked but hopefully no harm done. I've had a lot of inspiration for this story recently (honestly I just keep on writing and writing for it) so I do not think it will be too long before the next update. That said, I do also want to work on my other story and I'm working on a few new things (not sure they'll ever really happen) so I cannot predict anything.

Also, miscellaneous statement: Naruto's age is 20 years old (14 when he leaves from Jiraiya, about 15 when he attacks Yugakure, five years passed since then before the first Chapter of this story, and now some months have passed since that)

Naruto's grand introduction to the Five Kage is complete and, though it seems like it should be a bad thing that they are all working together, it seems to be exactly what he wants? And he wants to talk with some of the minor villages, one of which is Amegakure? Things are beginning to escalate in the Elemental Nations; how will it all play out?

As always, thank you for reading. Feel free to follow, favorite, review, or continuing to read!


	16. Tsunade's Meeting: Understand the Enemy

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Kishimoto does

"I am glad that you all could make it on such short notice." Tsunade said, eyes steeled over as she looked over the wide cast of people she ordered into her office. To the onlookers it was clear that something had happened at the Kage Summit which had upset their Kage in some way and, knowing that Suna had been recently attacked, they assumed that it was probably important. The entire village had been prone to hysteria in coming up with theories about the attack and to why a summit of the Kage was happening so for them to be summoned before her return had been spread through the village was interesting. "Can any of you guess why I wanted all of you here?"

"Well, looking around, I notice that it's only the people who were in my graduating academy class. Even Sasuke has been allowed to attend, despite the status of his parole." Shikamaru said, to which the Uchiha standing to the far right near the wall made no sign of recognizing. "Therefore, I think it's a pretty safe bet that you would hold this meeting about one of the two people missing from this reunion which narrows it down. Hinata was still officially on a diplomatic mission to Suna which, obviously, no longer qualifies as a very valid excuse given what happened to them. So, it is very plausible that this meeting could be about her; however, it could be about the other person missing though I am unaware of any news of Naruto being found in the past years. That sound about right?"

"Yeah, come on Hokage-sama, it's hardly fair that you haven't told us anything about Hinata! I'm her former teammate you know!" Kiba said, somewhat vocally and obviously irritated.

"I am your Hokage and I shall not be talked to in such a way in my own office! Am I understood?" Tsunade said with a scowl that promised nothing but untold pain and suffering to anyone who disobeyed. Kiba quickly nodded and mumbled a series of apologies as the rest of the room adjusted to the unusually hostile behavior from their leader. Normally Tsunade was known as being a very laid-back and informal Kage.

"Forgive him Tsunade-sama; however, we have been quite worried about Hinata ever since we heard of the attack on Suna. Do you have information regarding her?" Shino said in a much more diplomatic way that seemed to sate some of their leader's rising ire. It was clear that she was irritated in some way though probably not actually at them.

"This information has been held confidential and it shall remain so for the foreseeable future; however, as it stands, I will tell you that the very same enemy which attacked Suna took Hinata captive in a botched reconnaissance mission. I have received no updates of her status as of yet and this will not leave this room. Am I understood?" Her question was met with a round of nods and sorrowful eyes as the shinobi in the room learned the truth of what happened to their classmate and friend. "Now, you will be the first to hear the following news and it has not been classified: as a result of the Kage Summit, the five great villages have decided to form a United Force in order to repel the invaders of Suna. We believe the enemy to be capable and plentiful in number and wished to take as much precaution as possible before engaging them. I have already called for a council meeting to be held and I suspect this news will be quite public by tomorrow. Regardless, certain new information has been revealed regarding these circumstances that make me need to ask all of you this simple question: What do you remember about Naruto Uzumaki? Every insight into the matter could be important."

Shikamaru could feel that their Hokage was being deceitful in some way but was not quite able to pinpoint exactly how. He was the first to process everything that had been said and to remember the blonde boy from their past. "Naruto was a prankster and he earned a bad rap with people because of it though admittedly his reputation exceeded any of the pranks I saw him pull. I can't recall when but at some point I remember it seemed like he abandoned pranks and stopped being such a loud-mouth. I can't say I ever really paid him too much particular attention." He was unsure about whether or not any of his information would prove particularly helpful to Tsunade but, in truth, Shikamaru had never really had much interaction with Naruto either in the Academy or as genin. Maybe their teams had lunch together once or twice but nothing stuck out about those occasions which he could remember. The Hokage nodded, seeming to digest the information.

"I hardly remember anything about him, to tell the truth" said Ino.

"Naruto struck me as a thoughtful person. I observed all my classmates rather thoroughly and always did find him to be one of the most intriguing. He had a tendency to get obviously lost in thought on occasion and seemed to spend most of his time toward the end of our academy days by himself. When we were Genin we never interacted in a way that would be beyond what is considered formality" Shino spoke, giving more insight into the kid that most of them had been willing to ignore outright in their academy days.

"Well, as a teammate, I was forced to spend a lot of time around Naruto. I never really liked him all that much personally; he talked a fair bit and took training more seriously than even Kakashi-sensei. Everything was always about training with him so he could be Hokage and he always had a bit of a hard time following mission guidelines. He wanted them completed in a way that he liked and not always in the way that the mission was requesting. Oh, and he always wanted to go to that ramen stand for lunch. Ichiraku's, I think."

"Sakura, surely you can offer a bit more than that on your former teammate?"

"We were only teammates for a year, Tsunade-sama."

"The only thing I remember about Naruto is that he was the dead last who graduated without passing the test and always seemed weak" Kiba boasted with a bit of a smile.

"Odd; I recall him beating you in the Chuunin Exams." Sasuke said suddenly, getting Kiba to send a glare at him which was no match for the Uchiha simply standing there and not even acknowledging the others' existence.

"It was luck, that's all."

"Hokage-sama, if you wish to know about Naruto, then let me be the one to tell you. Unless you were his teammate, and paid attention, then there are many things that none of you could know. For example, he was quite overprotective with his sword even though it seemed to be only of slightly above average quality. He let no one else touch it and kept it close to him at all times while asking Kakashi for any information at all on Kenjutsu. I presumed it to be a family heirloom or perhaps a gift from the Sandaime but he never said where he received it."

"Oh yeah, I remember that now. Naruto took great care of that thing; you know, I don't think he ever left it anywhere without a shadow clone."

"Yes, I recall the sword as well. I do not believe it to be an heirloom though it is possible the Sandaime had it made for him. I would need to know which came first: the sword or the interest in Kenjutsu. Regardless, please continue." Tsunade was already feeling much more at ease with Sasuke seeming to be open to discussion with plenty of details on the rogue blonde; the others had given her nothing new to really think about but the Uchiha seemed to have actually have some things worth saying. A part of her knew that no one was likely to have much information aside from Sasuke but it was a minor miracle in and of itself that the man would talk.

"Additionally, outside of this village, he proved to be a very deceitful and manipulative person. There is a way that Naruto has with people that is undeniable and almost inexplicable. He could talk to them smoothly, identifying their weak points almost instantly and managing to make use of that to ingratiate himself among them. They loved him so much in Wave that they named their bridge after him. It became apparent to me after sometime that Naruto is an innately charismatic person; once, I even observed him with my Sharingan to make sure it was not a jutsu. I cannot completely understand his methods though I have developed a bit of a theory: Naruto can make a person not only willing to confront their weaknesses or fears but also make them entirely confident that they will overcome them. That, in turn, makes the person more likely to view him fondly. After some time I began to feel myself becoming comfortable around him, believing that he would help push me hard enough to be able to defeat Itachi. Thinking to myself that maybe Naruto would actually be Hokage. That's when I began to feel like I was missing out on some of my potential due to him, believing that I had to do it alone and that any other thought was not truly my own. This realization made me not only want to seek power but also willing to leave in order to get it, leading to my time with Orochimaru. As everyone is aware, we had a fight when he attempted to retrieve me.

What you probably do not know is that the fight was, effectively, a draw. It would be easy to say he lost since he did not retrieve me, and likely that is how it was treated, but it hardly felt like a victory for me. We were evenly matched and, though we fought to the point of exhaustion, neither victorious. This is the day that taught me the most fundamental truth about Naruto: he wishes to become as strong as he can possibly be. The reason he fought so hard to get me to stay in Konoha was so he could have a rival; however, I believe that at some point in our fight he realized he was focusing too much on my abilities and not enough on his own. For that reason our fighting that day simply died off without an additional word. True warriors have the ability to understand each other through combat alone and it is through this that I understand Naruto. He is not a shinobi who can ever be satisfied with his own strength. If you're asking about him, so soon after the attack on Suna, I can only presume that we have reason to believe he is working with the enemy."

Everyone else in the room was surprised at Sasuke's rather detailed explanation of the seemingly enigmatic Uzumaki except Tsunade. She merely nodded her head as if to process the information, possibly working it into the concept of Naruto that she created in her mind.

"I've debated whether or not I would make this information public, but ultimately, I do believe that it would be unwise to keep this a secret. Naruto does not seem to merely be associated with the enemy; as of now, it is considered credible evidence that he is their leader. We believe currently that he ran away from Jiraiya nearly six years ago and stayed in the Elemental Nations under an alias for several months before fleeing across the Suna Desert, to an area that the Kage have agreed to call Nishi no Kuni. He managed to unite the separate clans of this region, with warfare, and founded a hidden village of his own which he dubbed Kamigakure. The Kage have rejected this name and Nishigakure shall be the term used to describe it officially. He has entitled himself the Shikage of this village and is the one who led the attack on Suna."

"I never thought he would already be doing something like this..." Sasuke mumbled to himself, seemingly lost in thought as everyone else was at the sudden revelation that their former classmate was now a threat to the village. He spent more time around Naruto than anyone else when they were on Team Seven and he had noticed his teammate act strange. Even though Naruto often claimed he wanted to be Hokage, Sasuke had noticed at times that the blonde would shoot glares at certain villagers and other shinobi which were often returned with their own hate-filled glares. So, maybe, it was not that unlikely that Naruto would seek to harm the village in some way. The more surprising thing was the time; it had only been six years since Naruto abandoned the village and yet he is willing to put himself in a position where he is the clear enemy? It had only been two years ago that he had been able to exact his revenge, if he could still call it that, on Itachi.

"If that is true, and Naruto is the Shikage, then isn't he the one who took Hinata?" Ino said, connecting those events in her head rather quickly.

"Based on the information I have, that answer is yes."

"How dangerous are you treating him?" the last Uchiha asked.

"Considering that the occupation of a major hidden village is unprecedented, we are taking little risk and treating him as a Kage-level opponent. Not only did he interrupt a Summit meeting whose location and exact time were secret but he also said some things and behaved in a way that stirred the other Kage against him as well. A general notice shall be issued instructing all shinobi under S-class to seek aid before engaging. As mentioned earlier a United Shinobi Force is being raised against him and will number almost thirty-thousand. Preparations are to begin immediately to create a rally point in the western Land of Fire and allied forces will begin arriving in one month."

For the gathered Konoha-nin it seemed that there was a continual list of firsts. The first time a major shinobi village had been invaded, the first time that a Kage Summit would be held since the Shodaime, the first time a force from all great villages would work together in unison, and for most of them, the first time they had ever thought much of Naruto Uzumaki.

"Additionally, there is one more thing regarding Naruto that will be declassified from this point onward. I shall officially repeal the law in the morning and shall make an announcement, but seeing as how you were all his classmates, I will let you be the first to know. Naruto is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi; when the Kyuubi attacked the village almost two decades ago the Yondaime sealed the beast into Naruto. After all, a newborn baby has chakra coils that make it much more likely to survive a Biju sealing and the Yondaime's seal in-particular needed an undeveloped chakra system to work. It was made illegal to tell anyone about this fact and the law was harshly enforced. His training trip with Jiraiya had been an experiment to see how much of the Kyuubi's chakra he could safely utilize."

"Tsunade, there is one final thing I should let you know about Naruto." Sasuke said, processing quickly that Naruto was the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi due to the ease with which it answered several questions regarding the villagers' behavior toward him and some of Naruto's combat abilities, especially his healing. "He has never been a cautious person; he has charged head-on into fights that any normal shinobi should have backed away from. Like his fight with Gaara, back in our Chuunin Exams; obviously, fighting a transforming Jinchuuriki is well-beyond what the village asks of genin. However, I do believe this: Naruto would never start a fight that he did not believe he could win."

Tsunade took a moment to digest the idea that Naruto may actually think himself capable of defeating the combined forces of the Great Villages. Naturally such a thing should be on the verge of impossibility but Naruto Uzumaki was a shinobi who defied impossibility. It had been impossible that she could ever return to Konoha, impossible that she would ever cope with her loss, impossible that she could take up the mantle of Hokage when so many who better deserved it were incapable. It should have been impossible that he would convince her to stay while he himself would leave her. One of the main threats currently was a lack of information; she was hesitant to believe that Naruto would give his true motive at the Kage Summit but it was a possibility. Obviously it would be of enormous benefit to know the reason their enemy was acting; could Naruto really have held such a grudge from his childhood treatment that he would be driven to such lengths? Or was it something else?

"Shikamaru, Ino, I am giving you a new assignment. You are to be my lead shinobi in uncovering more details about Naruto. I want you to go anywhere he frequented, asking any questions you deem appropriate. You shall now have full authority to have anyone questioned within reason and I shall grant you permission to leave the village at any time. I am leaving it up to you two to create a psychological profile so that we can begin to understand who we are up against. Our enemy is a mystery and we have at most two months before we combat him."

"Why us? Neither Ino nor myself ever knew much about him."

"You're the only two I can trust. You knew Naruto as a classmate, even if you did not know him well. The other shinobi, however, will know him as the Kyuubi first and a traitor second. Even if you had little interaction, you had some interaction, both as a genin and during your mission to Nishi, and that puts you ahead of the curve in understanding him whether you believe that or not. You have some real observed instances of his behavior which should be suitable for gauging the reliability of statements but not enough familiarity to where you should be overly biased against believing whatever the evidence may suggest. And then there's your intellects and Ino's natural predisposition toward this line of work."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Shikamaru and Ino said, simultaneously. The Nara could sense from the deepest reaches of his heart that this assignment was going to be a bigger drag than any he had ever done prior and let out a sigh. To think that the blonde troublemaker from his academy class could be considered such a threat now; Tsunade had even said they were treating him as Kage-level. Hadn't everyone laughed back then when Naruto said he was going to be the strongest Hokage? Looking around the room, he saw little laughter now. The strong, assertive, dominant way that he had approached them in the forests of Nishi definitely left a bit of an impression as well; even though they were still combat capable and not critically low on chakra, Hinata had seen it better to accept the terms of a seemingly nonsensical deal rather than fight.

It was never too early to begin formulating a plan though Shikamaru was thankful he would not properly be able to execute more than the first step for a day or two. It was apparent that the most productive immediate step would be talking to Sasuke. Normally the Uchiha avoided all of them and his parole kept him on a pretty tight leash but he seemed open to talking about Naruto for whatever reason. What could he do after that, though? Sakura mentioned that Naruto frequented Ichiraku's ramen so he would go there and speak to the owner, Teuchi. He had been there several times with Chouji and found that the food was indeed quite good, especially for the price. Then he and Ino would go speak to Iruka-sensei before visiting everyone else in the room again. It was possible, after all, that they would remember something after some thought or even that being outside the Hokage's office would make them less intimidated. After that, the most logical step would be Naruto's sensei, Kakashi. Maybe then they would look at his mission history, Sasuke had mentioned something about a mission in Wave Country.

As he thought more about it, he wondered if maybe it would not be such a drag in the end. After all, it was an intriguing mystery he was asked to solve.

* * *

A/N: Here it is, the next chapter! I hope that you all will enjoy it; originally, when I wrote it, this chapter and the next chapter were supposed to be one chapter but they both kept expanding as I filled in more details until it was far too long for this story. There are definitely some important things in this one, one of which I am certain everyone noticed: Sasuke is back in Konoha. Additionally, it seems he did pay some attention to his teammate in their Genin days and has developed his own understanding of Naruto. Another one which you may or may not have noticed relates to one important thing about Naruto which Tsunade did not reveal.

Konoha attempts to prepare itself for the upcoming fight against the forces of Nishi (West); what preparations, then, could Naruto be making?

As always, thank you for reading. Please feel free to follow, favorite, review, or simply continuing to read!


	17. New Allies, Old Friends

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Kishimoto does

"I did not expect you to be here so soon."

"You gave me no choice with your lack of cooperation."

"Sending a shadow clone to talk to me was disrespectful; I could not tolerate it."

"As I'm sure you can imagine, I have been very busy recently. Surely news of the Suna attack has reached Amegakure by this point, correct?"

"Of course. My people are very anxious about what could come of it. Not that we have anything to fear of you."

"You seem fairly confident in that statement. We reached an agreement once and you are willing to trust me?"

"What choice do I have? I cannot defeat you so I must simply take your word. That is the nature of the weak in this world, I have learned."

"So little confidence in your abilities. From what I saw you do have some unique powers."

"Possibly but I believe them to be little use against an opponent such as yourself."

"If anything, hearing you say that makes me expect an ambush. You would not do that, would you?"

"It would be silly of me to be the one who breaks the agreement."

"I take that to mean you have held up your end, then?"

"There has been some complication; I was unable to keep the remaining members affiliated but did convince them to leave me some way of contacting them. Undoubtedly there are many layers between the method and actually reaching them so it will take some time; however, they were all very interested in meeting with you. Deidara, Kakazu, and Kisame are all that is left of Akatsuki. There was another member, Zetsu, but I have not heard from him in some time."

"Very well; I suppose I could not have reasonably expected much more. That is well within what is acceptable. I imagine that you are leading me down this building to show me the other part of the deal?"

"Yes; as previously mentioned, Nagato needed to extract the Jinchuuriki sequentially however he did not want to waste too much time being hunted down by the major villages. For that reason, he supposed it would be better to capture all of the Jinchuuriki he could first before doing the extraction. Believing the most politically problematic Jinchuuriki to be the Ichibi and Hachibi, those being the Kazekage and the Raikage's brother, he saw about collecting the others first. Nibi, Sanbi, Yonbi, Gobi, Rokubi, and Nanabi were all captured and secured. He kept them locked away, in the basement of this building which was once our headquarters. Though they will appear to be normal jail cells, I promise you that they are not. I am unaware of the method he used to keep them imprisoned so securely all these years but I do know he used the Rinnegan."

Konan led Naruto down into a dark room with very little light; he could hear mumbling coming from the cells indicating that there were in fact occupants. There were eight cells, four on each side, though one of them on the right side seemed much wider than all the others.

"It would seem that you have kept your end of the agreement, Konan."

"Does that mean you will honor your half?"

"Of course; I would take it that you have already buried Nagato?"

"Yes, a quiet burial in the countryside where Yahiko died. Marked only by a vague memorial insignificant to anyone but the three of us. I am not sure if Pein should have wanted that but I know Nagato would have. You have destroyed the Rinnegan, been presented a way to contact the former Akatsuki members, and have access to the captured Jinchuuriki; in exchange, I have been allowed to bury Nagato properly. There is, however, the final condition."

"You worry too much Konan; of course, seeing as how helpful you have been, I will be more than willing to spare Amegakure from this conflict. As I told you before, however, should I prevail then there will have to be changes here to fit my new world."

"I can accept that, so long as you spare us the fighting. I have little to fear in the end for you shall not win."

"You'd be so sure?"

"The world we live in is so desperate to avoid change that it takes a special gift to bring it about. Nagato truly could have done it; he had the Rinnegan which you were so eager to destroy."

"But surely if I defeated Nagato then I could do without the Rinnegan?"

"Those eyes were special; not just in combat prowess but in their meaning. Given to a near defenseless orphan so that they may protect others and ensure children would be able to grow up in safety. Eyes told of in legends. Your significance shall pale in comparison."

"I believe you are wrong here but I shall waste no time debating it further. You have held up your conditions and I assure you I will hold up mine. I shall allow no shinobi under me to bring harm to Ame so long as Ame does not participate in the conflict."

This deal was really strongly in his favor and he wondered if Konan was aware of the fact. When she had seen he was ready to completely destroy Nagato's body to get rid of the Rinnegan the woman had attacked him quite fiercely for a few minutes and attempted to ensnare him in a variety of paper traps. Thanks to the simple yet unbelievably effective combination of shadow clones and substitution, however, he had been able to dodge them. His original plan had been to simply let her exhaust herself then to finish her off but instead he had the idea to negotiate a deal. It was simple enough; he could destroy the Rinnegan to ensure that they could not be possessed by anyone more combat capable than Nagato by removing his eyes and she could take the body with her. He did not want the eyes and, if even poor shinobi such as Nagato and Obito could be transformed into capable if not one-dimensional opponents through their use, it was clear he needed to destroy them. In exchange, she would let him talk to the remaining Akatsuki members and have access to the already captured Jinchuuriki. The fight went on for a bit longer and, as she ran out of new techniques and most likely chakra, she considered it on one condition: he would not harm Amegakure. Perhaps it could inconvenience him slightly but it was clear he got the favorable portion of the deal so he could plan around that. In the end there was nothing of substance holding him to the agreement so in the worst case he could simply break it after he had gotten what he wanted. Konan, of course, seemed to know of that much at least.

"Very well; here are the keys to the Jinchuuriki cells. Do with them as you wish." They seemed to be ordinary jail cell keys; Nagato must have used some pretty powerful technique in creating them if they were able to hold Jinchuuriki for so long. He started walking down the large hallway and looked through the bar doors to see anyone within. On the first one on his right he saw a young blonde girl looking at him though it was hard to make out more distinct characteristics. To his left he saw nothing. In the next cell to his right it shocked even him to see the form of the Sanbi lying there, as if waiting. Truly it was amazing that an amateur shinobi such as Nagato was given enough power from the Rinnegan to lock up the full power of a Tailed Beast in a cell. They must have also used some kind of temporary storage to get the creature in there. This sudden development sparked a new area of interest in him; he had not expected for an unsealed Beast to be here. He would need to think of a way to find a Jinchuuriki for the Sanbi soon, much sooner than he had planned.

"Hello everyone; I am unsure of what you know about your current situation so let me tell you the basics. You were captured by an organization known as Akatsuki at the behest of its leader, Nagato. He wished to gather all the Jinchuuriki together, extract their beasts and thus killing their hosts, and to use their power as some sort of superweapon. Nagato, however, is no longer living. I killed him and Akatsuki is no more. Before you think I am here to free you, I will let you know that Nagato has been dead for almost two years and you've been kept in here on my request. I have not been able to make the visit before now; you see, I am the leader of a new ninja village known as Kamigakure in the lands west of Suna. For all this time I have been busy focusing on one objective: destroying the Elemental Nations. Already Suna has fallen under my control, a great deal of their shinobi dead and a select few joining me. I've come here to make all of you an offer."

"Why don't you tell us who you are first?" A voice said from one of the cells. He walked over to it, barely able to make out the form of a shorter man with red hair. Judging by a quick look of his features it looked like they were fed well enough for there were no obvious signs of malnutrition though that may have been concealed by the darkness.

"Fair enough; my name is Naruto Uzumaki, Shikage of Kamigakure. Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. As jinchuuriki we have all been faced with unnecessary burden and irrational treatment from others, fearing us for the beasts that they gave us. When I fought with him, Nagato made an interesting statement; he said that none of the villages missed their jinchuuriki when they were gone. I'm sure it cannot be that hard for you to believe; surely, if any of the major villages had cared enough to make a big deal about it then they would have found you in the time you have been gone. All of them were more concerned with their reputation than your lives, preferring to make as little noise as possible about your disappearance so that no other villages would know. To shinobi we are seen as containers, little better than sealing scrolls, and to citizens we are seen as the tailed beasts themselves. Once I destroy the current shinobi system, I shall put in place a new one, and in that system will be a new era of jinchuuriki. They shall be venerated, encouraged to learn to use the power of their tailed beast and no longer held back. In my future, to be seen as a jinchuuriki is to be seen as one of the few selected to guard the very well-being of the world. Perhaps feared, perhaps loved, definitely respected. It would be foolish, however, to expect to be able to force people into seeing them this way; that is why I will need a respectable group."

"And that would lead us into this offer you mentioned earlier?" Another voice said, Naruto examining it and seeing a somewhat frail-appearing man with dark hair.

"Correct; you see, normally I would not be so kind but I suppose since you are my fellow jinchuuriki I am feeling generous. The first option is to pledge your allegiance to me and renounce your village; should you do so, I will let you loose from your cell and you shall come and serve under me, fighting in battles wherever you should be needed and abiding by a simple set of guidelines I've come up with to ensure any jinchuuriki serving under me understands what is expected of them. You will be encouraged to train in using your Biju's chakra, though only in my presence, and will be required to know at least how to draw it out; you will not treat your Biju as a burden but rather as an honor. The second option is that you will be given the chance to fight me for your freedom; when you lose, I will kill you, and then in a few years when your Biju reforms I will select a new jinchuuriki. The third option is that you choose to die now, peacefully, by my sword. Service, dying in battle, and dying peacefully. These are your options."

For once in her life, Fu felt like she had a choice. To choose to fight with and try to harness her Biju even more, or to die and abandon the burden of her status forever. The strange man before them held an air of authority that left little room for questioning the sincerity of his statements; confidence and determination radiated from him in tangible volumes in a way that she had never before felt. Even when the men came to take her away, and they were easily the strongest people she had ever encountered, she had not been so overcome. A dense silence was held among all of the jinchuuriki as the man – Naruto, his name was Naruto he said – finished talking; having grown to know her fellow captives over nearly two years of isolation she knew that they were all thinking about what was said and determining his truthfulness. For her part, though, she could feel the truth of his words, feel the underlying power of his Biju. She held no particular loyalties to her village, they had always been so cruel and uncaring to her with little exception no matter how nice she was to them and she knew that they had probably done next to nothing regarding her kidnapping as Naruto had said. If everything was as he said then maybe there was finally a chance she would be accepted for who she was instead of being an outcast.

"I'll join you" she said, breaking the layer of thoughtfulness and doubt that permeated the room. The man walked to the cell and looked at her for a moment. She could feel his eyes examining her and approached him until she was near the cell door.

"What's your name?" And she was certain he had heard genuine curiosity and care in his voice. The way he looked at her and talked to her, it made her feel like a child which was outright ridiculous considering they had to be about the same age judging from his appearance. Dark blue eyes, jubilant blonde hair, no scars whatsoever on his face aside from three on either cheek. And yet, for some reason, he seemed to be so much more mature than her, like she could feel the difference between them just from a look.

"Fu." With a simple arm gesture he invited her to leave the cell. For a brief moment she had a difficult time taking the final step forward after the long period of incarceration. It was more than that, though, so much more. It was a step toward a new life, no longer a shinobi of Takigakure but of Kamigakure, into a war against the major villages of the Elemental Nation themselves. She doubted she was strong enough to be of much use, especially after a few years of atrophy, but there was something that drew her forward anyway. Immediately upon stepping past the cell, she began to once again feel her chakra as she used to; in that moment, though she knew she could not have been stronger than when she was imprisoned, she felt invincible. It took her a second to remember that she definitely was not.

"I also agree to join" another voice said, the voice of Yugito she knew. Yugito was the Nibi Jinchuuriki from Kumo and had a feisty spirit but seemed to be very nice. Then again, everyone in the group seemed to be very nice compared to what she was used to. Sure, maybe Han and Roshi could be grouchy from time to time, but considering they had all long accepted the inevitability of their death it was really wrong to blame them. She followed the man to Yugito's cell, though staying a few feet behind due to not knowing where he wanted her to be positioned. The man asked her name and the girl responded with the truth, though knowing Yugito's nature, she knew she was being a bit too passive. Should she say something? The cell door opened and she still had not decided what, if anything, she would do. Already her loyalties were being tested!

When Yugito stepped out of the cell, there were two things that happened in quick succession. The first was that there was an explosion of blue chakra that lit up the room in an instant. It took no conscious effort at all to discern that it was the chakra of the Nibi; never before had she felt a pure power like that of Yugito in that moment and she now understand just how much stronger a jinchuuriki could be when they were closely aligned with their Biju. The flash of light from the chakra was so intense that she was blinded by it, being in such close proximity, but she knew what was happening: Yugito was trying to kill Naruto, the man who had offered them all a new life with a chance at no longer being seen as monsters. Part of her did understand the girl's actions, however, for it seemed based on what she had said that jinchuuriki were treated much better in Kumo than they were in Taki. The blonde girl had many more ties to Kumo than she did to her village.

The second thing that happened was more surprising than the first: seconds after the release of the chakra it was already dissipating rapidly. She opened her eyes only to see Yugito standing still, both hands around her neck, with Naruto holding a sword in his hands. The girl fell limply to the ground and she could see a pool of blood begin to form. For a second she felt like rushing to her side, hating to see someone whom she had spent so much time talking with be likely mortally wounded. She was stopped, however, by the sheer undeniable power of the killing intent being released in the room. For a moment she could have sworn she saw red in Naruto's eyes but just as quickly it was gone. The same could not be said, however, for the overwhelming presence overtaking the jail. It lingered, even as all the life clearly drained from Yugito's body. Surely nobody could deny the display of power they had just seen.

"I presented you all three options. I suggest you strongly reconsider trying to do anything heroic." His voice was deeper now, as if being a stern parent trying to rein in unruly children. She was terrified and yet, in equal quantity, awe-struck.

"I've seen enough; I am willing to join your forces."

"As am I."

"Hmph; I can never accept the Biju and shall not honor them. I would rather fight to the death."

Naruto fought the smile on his face; walking away with three jinchuuriki pledging their loyalty, regardless of their current levels of strength, would definitely be a huge victory should they prove reliable. It would not be too long before he was able to assess their usefulness in a real battle. He would have no problem dispatching the one in a fight and, if nothing else, perhaps he may learn a bit about the jinchuuriki's powers in the process. Today had been far more successful than he had imagined, probably in no small part to the display by the blonde kunoichi and his quick response. Of course he had been on high alert, ready to react at a moment's notice amid a number of people who were unknown to him with unknown abilities.

Today was a victory; a much-needed victory, at that.

* * *

"Look, Iruka, I know it's tough to think about right now but any information you can give us could help."

"Tough to think about? It's the only thing I can think about today. One of my students has become such a dangerous traitor."

The news of Naruto being the leader of a new hidden village known as Nishigakure in Nishi no Kuni had been officially announced by Tsunade that morning, as well as the repeal of the law hiding his status as a jinchuuriki, in addition to the formation of a United Shinobi Force. Shikamaru knew that today would be a day he could never forget; never, in his lifetime, had he seen the village in such a tumult. People talked in the streets of how 'I always knew that demon kid would be nothing but trouble' or 'we never should have let him train as a shinobi' or 'we should have kept him imprisoned all his life' or even 'we should have killed the brat when he was a baby.' There was genuine anger in their voices when they talked of the blonde, of how they wished they had done things differently.

That's not to say that people were only talking of Naruto; sure, among the citizens, he was the hot topic, but among shinobi who were naturally more accustomed to the idea of missing and rogue-nin, the issue of greatest debate was the United Shinobi Force. Here, the conversations leaned more into 'there's no way we should be working with Iwa' or sometimes Iwa was replaced by Kumo or Mizu; occasionally, even Suna due to their large shinobi presence outside the city causing a bit of unrest and worry. Additional detracting ranged from 'he's our missing-nin, we should deal with him ourselves' to 'this is completely unnecessary.' The most dangerous detractors, however, would say 'Hokage-sama has been fooled into this deal; should the force suffer heavy casualties, we will be at the mercy of Iwa and Kumo!' and it was this that was alarming because this line of thought was most likely to cause major trouble in the future.

"We understand; just please, try not to think about that and instead think back to when he was younger" Ino said, getting the scarred academy teacher's mind on-track.

"Alright. Well, you two were his classmates so I'll spare the part about how he used to be a prankster. I'm not sure if you noticed, but around his birthday, he was always very different in-class. I never asked him about it, but it is very likely that he was being harassed due to his jinchuuriki status more than usual in that time period. For a long time I was indifferent about it, thought Naruto was a lost cause and didn't really care how he was treated; I even told Sandaime-sama as much, to his dismay. Something changed in him on his eleventh birthday, however; you could tell he was much more focused on learning, even if he was still so distracted. That's when I started to see his potential."

"And how can you narrow it down to his eleventh birthday?"

"Well, it's pretty easy for me to remember his birthday since it's the day my parents died" the man said with a somewhat saddened expression. "Besides, after that day, he was no longer the prankster I thought he was and it seemed that he was taking his future as a shinobi seriously. I was excited back then just to have him stop being such a distraction but, looking back, I bet something happened on that day. Now, I'm not saying it's justifiable what he's done, but I realize now that no child should be treated like Naruto was treated. Ignored, outright hated, secluded, discouraged at every opportunity. I wish I could go back now and change something" the man said, wistfully.

Everything Iruka said seemed to match what they expected to hear based on their own memories and information from Sasuke and Teuchi. It was also worth noting that Sasuke mentioned Naruto's charisma and now both Teuchi and Iruka seemed to be remembering him quite fondly. Teuchi had also mentioned how it was unfair how Naruto was treated and that he 'felt sorry for the kid.' To be willing to be truthful about the subject on the very day of Naruto's announcement as a traitor was in itself a strong sign of attachment.

"Did Naruto ever approach you about learning Kenjutsu beyond the basic academy training?" For some reason, he assigned some level of importance to that sword based on how reverently the blonde treated it according to Sasuke and Sakura. Besides, it didn't hurt to ask.

"Actually, yeah, he did. I believe that was also sometime after his eleventh birthday, come to think of it. But I just recommended him to the standard library readings we have."

"Was there any indication prior to him asking that he already owned a sword?"

"I'm pretty sure he mentioned knocking down a few things in his apartment; you know, jokingly." Now that was interesting; it could very well indicate that Naruto received that sword of his prior to having an interest in Kenjutsu. Additionally, the fact that he asked after his eleventh birthday which Iruka indicated as a major turning point of some kind created the possibility that the sword was heavily connected in some way. Instead of re-interviewing every one of his classmates, maybe he should first pay a trip to every blacksmith in the village to find out if they made the sword. Then again, having a sword before interest indicated it was a gift from someone and without the blade then it was hard to believe any of the blacksmiths could know if they had even made it.

"Nara-san and Yamanaka-san," an ANBU agent appeared in the room and immediately said, interrupting his thoughts on the matter. "Hokage-sama requests your presence immediately."

They wasted no time in getting to Tsunade's office, figuring that it was most likely of some importance. He hoped that it was not her asking them for a status report. Thus far, their investigation into the mysterious jinchuuriki had not yielded much in the way of significant results but they were building a broader and broader base of information that could prove useful in the future. The Uzumaki felt like a contradiction by nature; known by most of them for his seclusion and isolation yet somehow highly charismatic, thought to have been the dead-last yet held in high regard by someone like Sasuke Uchiha. Of course, they were not prepared at all for what they saw when they did enter that room. Ino seemed to get past the initial shock quicker than he did.

"Hinata!"

* * *

A/N: So, the Akatsuki plan is similar to the one in canon, excepting that Nagato was going to save Gaara and Killer B for last since the other Jinchuuriki's disappearances would not be noticed. After he captured Naruto, his plan was to then move on to Gaara and begin sealing. I debated for quite some time on whether or not Nagato would still be in charge of Amegakure but, ultimately, I found it unreasonable that he would not have tried to confront Naruto in the years that have passed. Personally I kind of like Yugito based on what I've read of her in other stories but she did seem the type to try to pull off something like an ambush the moment she could.

Naruto has gotten new powerful, if untrustworthy, allies at his side in preparation for the upcoming battles ahead; elsewhere, Shikamaru and Ino continue their investigation into his past only to be interrupted by the return of a lost friend. What will Hinata have to say to the pair, will Shikamaru figure out the mystery behind the blonde's sword, what has Naruto's forces done since the occupation of Suna, will Naruto get the last Akatsuki members to join him? And which jinchuuriki pledged themselves to him?

As always, thank you everyone for reading. Feel free to follow, favorite, review, or simply continuing to read!


	18. Questioning: A Friend in Doubt?

Naruto: Dark Disciple

Chapter 16

As Ino wrapped Hinata up into a hug, Shikamaru felt a bit relieved to have seen his classmate and to know that he was not responsible for the Hyuuga heiress's death as the leader of the mission that had seen her taken. Luckily, though, it seemed that she had not been treated too poorly; in fact, her hair seemed to be fairly kempt, her clothes were not particularly tattered, and he was sure he recognized them as something she would have packed from Konoha as opposed to scavenging. That was a very odd thing for an escaped prisoner. He could practically feel himself working toward several theories, some of which were less than positive. If the Hokage had sent them an urgent ANBU summons, then that meant Hinata had very likely just returned and was in this state upon arrival. And that could mean a lot of things.

"It's good to see you again Hinata" he said, truthfully, though perhaps his smile was the slightest bit forced. It was difficult to smile when in the process of attempting to put together the pieces to a puzzle that was intricately complex with no real clue of how the final picture should look, made even harder by the fact that he had to hunt down the pieces. That said, one of the most important aspects to solving a mysterious puzzle was to not force pieces to fit together or else the completed image would be distorted, possibly in such a way that he would have no way of knowing. This was simply the early stages, where it made sense to attempt to form connections out of any pieces available and to see where they led.

"Hinata here was giving me a personal debriefing of her time in Nishigakure when she mentioned something very interesting. I thought it best if you two should also hear it personally. Please, Hinata, start from the beginning again."

"Alright; well, I was escorted back to some sort of palace dungeon by the man whom I now know was in-fact the Shikage like I originally assumed. I had my chakra sealed and was placed in a prison cell but luckily my Byakugan remained unsealed. I decided I would use that to plan my escape but, in case it was important, I activated them very briefly every fifteen minutes or so I was awake so that if anything were happening in the building I could see it. For a little over a week, ten days I think it was, nothing of any real importance happened. I was not tortured or interrogated, just kept imprisoned. Then, that night, the Shikage came to visit me; he did not seem to have had any real objective in doing so but I asked him some questions that he mostly answered. He asked me one question, which I talked to him about, and after that he decided to leave. Before he left, I asked him who he was. To my surprise, he took off his cloak and mask and showed me his face. It… it was Naruto."

Hinata had told them the identity of the Shikage; that information was no longer important. More important than that, Hinata had told them that Naruto revealed that information to her willingly which was far more interesting. Additionally, even though Naruto must have known about the Byakugan, it was unsealed anyway. A mistake on the part of a subordinate? But why would he not have been sure to specify about the seals when it could mean he was being spied upon by his own prisoner?

"We know Hinata; we're the ones investigating him now." Ino said, as seemingly Hinata was under the impression that the two of them were not aware of it. Shikamaru decided to put his prior train of thought on delay at least for the moment in favor of clarifying one thing in-particular that could be of some usefulness.

"Tell me, you said he asked you one question. What was it?"

"Hmm? Well, if I remember it right, it was 'Why worry about your teammates when you're the one imprisoned.' And I told him it's because we fight for others before we fight for ourselves. Do you think that's important?"

"We're trying to build a complete profile so every bit of info you can give us could be useful. Just try to remember whatever you can." He could not tell whether Ino was playing the part of friendly interrogator or if she was genuinely treating Hinata this way out of friendship. Despite her many annoyances, Ino did seem to care about her friends and one of his biggest complaints about her was that she cared way too much about himself and Chouji. His ear still felt occasionally sore from the times where she would yell at him for almost getting killed in some way or another, regardless of whether or not he had been in danger. Thinking back to Hinata's statements, Naruto's question did seem important as it suggested him to be more of an individualist which supported every other piece of info currently available.

"Okay; then, I have a few more things to say as well. In his room, there was this object. I've never seen anything like it. In almost all cases, chakra appears to be blue. It varies usually among the shades from dark blue to light blue but blue nonetheless. The odd thing about this object was that the chakra was dark red, so thick that I could not quite make out what it was. It's-well, it's hard to describe- but it looked like there were varying shades of chakra in it that were slowly being taken over by the darker chakra. I'm not really sure what that means, but I do know just looking at it left me feeling a bit… overwhelmed, I don't know how else to describe it. Sorry if I'm being too vague."

"Do you think it could have been a sword?"

"Well, like I said, it was hard to see clearly, but yeah, I think that's the most likely option." That was certainly interesting. For whatever reason, Naruto's sword seemed to continue coming up as an issue worth investigating and now Hinata was suggesting that it had qualities that were very unique. As far as he was aware, storing chakra into blades was not something any of Konoha's blacksmiths were capable of doing; if any of them were indeed capable of such a feat, then it was pretty unreasonable both that they would not boast of such accomplishment or replicate it. Yes, that was something far more suited to Kirigakure instead. Naturally, if Naruto had indeed acquired the blade around his eleventh birthday, then there was almost no way whatsoever he should have come into contact with anything from Kirigakure. Many questions, few answers.

"What else did you see?" Ino asked, no doubt noticing he was too lost in thought to ask it himself.

"For a while I did not see anything much. I did notice that few people went into his office and that there were no guards in the room. After a few more days, I noticed he had a meeting with four people who all had large amounts of chakra. It struck me as something that might be important because there were no interruptions throughout the meeting and he stayed a long time afterwards talking to one of the people. I don't know anything else about that instance though."

Very interesting; four people at this meeting. They were probably all important in some way but ultimately it told him very little useful. Even if these were the four people most trusted by Naruto, with the most influence and decision making, there was no way of knowing who they were or any way of tracking them down. Plus, there was no way of knowing that those four people were trusted or influential people as opposed to shinobi being punished in some way. Or, there was no way of knowing if there were others who were equally important but were not called to attend.

"You said 'that instance;' what else was there?"

"Yeah, they met again some time later. I lost track of days because my thoughts were elsewhere, s-sorry." He had not heard Hinata stutter in quite some time and immediately sought to reason out whether or not it was important. Perhaps merely an accidental slip into an old habit; in fact, that was the most likely cause. That did not make it any less interesting to note that her stutter had disappeared shortly after Naruto had done the same and now seemed to make a reappearance. "It was the same four people, but I couldn't tell you anything extra. However, after that meeting was done, he went into a private room with twelve people. They all also had rather large amounts of chakra, but I recognized one. It was the girl we fought with in the forest."

Finally, something undoubtedly important. The girl they had fought in the forest was a member of the Shugoshin, apparently an elite group of Nishi's best shinobi if he interpreted things correctly from his mission. Perhaps they were similar in function to the Daimyo's twelve guardian shinobi? No, that seemed unlikely; if nothing else, he was certain that Naruto was not the type who would rely much on bodyguards based off of Sasuke's information. If anything, he would presume the blonde to accept any challenge against him personally. More likely, they were a group of elite shinobi that Naruto planned on using to accomplish various difficult tasks he wanted done. Thinking about that, he remembered part of the report on the Suna invasion where Gaara mentioned being attacked by two capable individuals. He now felt confident in his assessment of the group.

"Thank you very much Hinata; all this information is very helpful" Ino said with a big cheerful smile. Once again, he could not tell if she was playing a part. There was still very much something bothering him about this, all relating back to the simple fact that Naruto had not ensured her Byakugan was sealed in addition to her surprisingly unaltered appearance.

"Out of curiosity, how long have you been wearing those clothes?" He noticed distinctly that Ino and Hinata both looked at him with a strange look in their eyes whereas Lady Tsunade continued to sit there in silence without so much as a reaction. Most likely, they all realized that he was asking her a question that was not something a concerned friend would ask.

"I bathed in a waterfall I came across and washed my clothes two days ago I believe. I wanted to make sure I would not cause a commotion when I came home." Interesting; highly probable, almost certainly the truth. Of course, the girl was still not noticeably different on the outside with no emaciation visible to his eye. It seemed she was reasonably well-taken care of as a prisoner which, to say the least, was not a privilege many shinobi enjoyed. In fact, Naruto already had two Konoha-nin killed while imprisoned.

"Thinking back, I remember you having a bit of a crush on Naruto in the Academy and in our genin days..." He let his voice trail off at the end, as if lost in thought about the subject but really just to let Hinata fill in the detail.

"No, I did not have a crush. I loved him then, and if he were the same person, I would still love him." She sounded very defensive though there was not an ounce of hesitation to the girl's words. Perhaps it was a bit out of line for him to say that; in essence, it was rather bluntly suggesting that Hinata could be, if not purposefully helping an enemy of the village, at least not giving them the full details. He was nowhere near actually making that conclusion but mostly wanted to see her reaction. Then she continued, a bit less confidently. "But he isn't. There's no way he is."

"But I don't understand why he would speak to you; it clearly was of no gain to him and has only benefited us."

"I cannot say that I know. Maybe he just wanted to finally reveal his identity to someone? It didn't really seem like he understood himself when he did it."

"I don't have any more questions. Thank you for everything, Hinata," he said with a smile, hoping she would understand the necessity of asking questions that may have challenged her character. To his surprise, she turned away from him a bit and did not return any kind of smile.

"You are dismissed; please, return to your family. Your father has certainly been quite persistent in asking about you and I cannot delay you any longer."

"Hai Hokage-sama," she said as she was rising from the chair and proceeded to exit the room unceremoniously.

"It was rather rude to ask those questions, don't you think Shika?"

"Perhaps, but it needed to be done."

The previously rather silent Tsunade spoke up. "Shikamaru's right. Up to this point, Naruto's stayed a step ahead of us. All of our important revelations have been of his doing. He told us there was a Shikage, he told us he was a willing enemy by killing two captives, and then he told us he is the Shikage. He has given us information before; surely he should have been more cautious with Hinata as a prisoner unless, for some reason, he wanted us to know these things. I cannot, however, think of any way that this benefits him. Damn brat's practically flaunting our own ignorance at us."

"I understand that we can't just assume none of our friends would ever do something wrong, but I think you were too direct."

"Possibly, then again, I needed to see if she would be prepared for such accusations. It did not seem she was so that makes me feel safer that she was not hiding anything."

"Indeed. It is not safe to presume loyalty when it is in doubt. Better safe than sorry without going too far of course. Unfortunately, while normally I would have an ANBU detail watch over her, she would surely notice them."

"Do you actually think it's possible she would still love Naruto? Enough to possibly be used by him?"

"I really don't know Ino. That type of thing is hard to predict."

"He's right. If you had asked me when I first met Sakura if she would still love Sasuke after this long, I would have laughed and called it childish infatuation. And yet, there is no denying her continued interest in him. Still, it is likely just a childhood crush combined with no current love interest and absence making the heart grow fonder. I will not lose any sleep over having Hinata back in Konoha."

"Hokage-sama, today has been very helpful. I am willing to bet that there are twelve Shugoshin and think you should account for that accordingly. Aside from that, I have merely more speculation. I have two things to ask, though; first of all, where is Kakashi?"

"Kakashi? Ah yes, of course you should want to talk to him. Unfortunately, he is in charge of managing the grounds where the United Force shall gather so is currently quite busy. There are not many people I can rely on to manage something so important, you know," the woman sounded a bit exasperated at the end of the sentence. "You are more than free to go and talk to him but I cannot have him recalled. What else?"

"In the very first report, we were told of Jashinism. Jashinist symbols throughout the village, on the hitai-ites. For something that seemed to be so important, we have not heard of it again to this point. Don't you find something odd about that?"

"Well, I have not wanted to throw away any possibilities, but I have been working on the assumption that it is merely a fear tactic. He did bring up Jashin briefly at the Kage Summit but I think it was also to try to intimidate us."

"That makes a lot of sense; however, I think it necessary that Ino and I be given a list of any known former Jashinist hideouts, especially any near to Yugakure or where any Yu-nin would have been likely to frequent. I would also like to be given any documents at all pertaining to their practices."

"To be honest, I am not sure where that information would even be if it is indeed stored. I'll have some people search for it but cannot promise anything and definitely not anything soon. Why?"

"I think we need to do something to get ahead of Naruto; this seems to be a good place to strike." Pursuing such information was definitely dangerous, especially since there was a possibility that it was indeed just a scare tactic. However, it would be foolish to ignore the simple fact that Naruto was likely associated with Hidan of Yugakure before he fled the Elemental Nations. It seemed very possible to him that there was something to uncover about the religion that could be useful; he just had no idea what it could be yet.

* * *

"Naruto-sama, how old are you?"

"Twenty."

"So am I! Wow, you seem so much older. Not that you have a bunch of wrinkles or anything like that, you just do!" During the walk back to Suna from Ame, Fu had decided it best to get to know her new liege so had taken to asking questions to pass the time. Naruto, for his part, was not in much of a hurry so had set a rather leisurely pace with all of the formerly imprisoned jinchuuriki alongside him. "Where are you from?"

"He's the Kyuubi jinchuuriki so he's from Konoha, no doubt."

"Oh don't act so smart Utakata. What was it like growing up in Konoha?" The former Kiri-nin just sighed at the girl's antics. He always had found her to be a bit silly but supposed the quality was quite endearing, especially considering how much it could enlighten a prison. He could not deny how nice it felt to be out in the world once more, walking through nature with companions he knew he shared a bond with.

"I may be from Konoha but I'm not sure I truly grew up until I left."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, curiously. After a few moments of silence, however, it became clear that the blonde was not going to answer her. "Oh come on, what makes you decide whether or not you want to answer a question!"

"It's all based on what he's willing to let us know. He has no reason to trust anyone here so would not want to give anything that could be important."

"Yeah, guess you're right Roshi-san. When are you two going to fight anyway?"

"Once we are on the outskirts of Suna. I would not want for the villages to interrupt us should they detect our chakra while fighting."

"Do you really have to fight? Why can't you just join us Roshi-san? I mean, we're going to learn about our Biju and be super strong."

"I do not trust the beast and never shall. I have experimented with the chakra before and know of its corrupting influence. Tampering with the chakra is the path to disaster."

"I agree," Naruto said, to the surprise of those around. "That is why none of the training shall be done outside of my supervision. However, I do not believe trust is the key to control. Understanding them is far more important."

"And what understanding have you come to?" Han asked, breaking his silence.

"That they don't want to be feared or hated. They want to be respected, perhaps even cherished. I think you would all be surprised by how similar we are to the things we call demons. Perhaps that will build trust, but I know very well that the Kyuubi will attempt to escape whenever he has the opportunity. Understanding and accepting that is more important than trusting him not to do it. Maybe it will be different for all of you." There were a few moments of silence before Fu interrupted again.

"What's your favorite color?"

"...Orange."

"Then why do you wear so much black?"

"It's more befitting my title."

"Yeah but I bet it's tough calling yourself Shikage when you've got such bright yellow hair, huh? You act all tough and seem really scary when you're mad but that hair just ruins the whole show, know what I mean?"

"If anyone underestimates me because of my hair color then they are already dead," he said, in such a way that it made Fu laugh.

* * *

A/N: I feel like I need to address one thing: I shall write the Byakugan how I believe it works, which is seeing chakra and chakra systems (and I would presume each system is so unique that when Hinata sees one she should have a good chance of recalling it). Seeing a chakra system would give a vague outline of a person which Hinata would not have recognized as Naruto after so much time apart . Alternatively, if that's not what you subscribe to, Naruto has enough chakra that it made it difficult for Hinata to actually see him (or there was a strange malignant chakra blocking her eyesight). It's kind of an awkward thing because the wikipedia description will tell you "sees chakra and chakra systems" but it's also shown being able to do things like look at papers. Kind of a strange discrepancy there, to be honest.

Speaking of discrepancies, you may notice one very important one between what happened and what Hinata revealed.

Aside from that: I cannot promise another update anytime soon. I suspect I will update New Yellow Flash before I update this again, though I also have two other [new] stories that I am quite excited to be working on (and I have plans to undoubtedly publish one [because it shall be a short story] whereas the other will go to my ever increasing file of unpublished work in all likelihood.) Very busy month ahead of me IRL so there will pretty much be zero chance that I update again before at least Mid-May. Hope you understand.

70k words. Over 80 reviews. I don't know how to gauge whether a story is successful in terms of viewership, but when I consider that I enjoy writing this and that writing is just a hobby of mine, it feels like a true honor that anyone reads it! Sorry for overly long A/N.

Hinata reveals the things she learned while captured in Kamigakure/Nishigakure, while Naruto deals with a very inquisitive Fu. But what's going on in other parts of the Elemental Nations?

As always, thank you everyone for reading. Please feel free to follow, favorite, review, or simply continuing on!


End file.
